PRINCETON,     N.     J. 


'«S. 


She//. 


Division .  .*Xr< .  .?W.  .TT.  O.  V 

Section    .>.  V^.-JW..I 

Number 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


GOD'S    VOUCHERS 


HIS    V/RITTEN    WORD, 


WITH   CRITICAL   ILLUSTRATIONS  FROM   THE 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  DR.  FRANKLLV. 


/ 
REV.    GEORGE    B.    CHEEVER,    D.D., 

AUTHOR    OF    "LECTURES    ON    THE    PILGRIM's    PROGRESS,"   "VOICES    OF    NATURE 
TO    THE    SOUL,"   "  WINDINGS    OF    THE    RIVER    OF   LIFE,"   ETC. 


New  York: 
ANSON    D.    F.    RANDOLPH    &    COMPANY, 

gCX)   BROADWAY,    COR.    20lh    STREET. 


Copyright  1881, 
By  Anson  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Company. 


PEIIICKTON 
htC.  APai882 

THaOLGGIC&X^ 


PREFACE. 


The  compound  title  of  this  volume  may  need  some 
little  explanation.  Biograjjliy  and  history  are  as  day- 
books and  ledgers,  mutual  vouchers  for  the  truth. 
The  Bible  is  no  exception.  In  Divine  Scripture  there 
are  the  same  checks  and  counter-checks  for  our  as- 
surance, balancing,  correcting,  and  interpreting  the 
accounts.  State  documents  and  laws  are  i:»roved  by 
depositions  of  personal  evidence.  Biography  and 
history  make  up  the  body  of  all  our  knowledge  of 
mankind. 

The  correlations  between  the  Pentateuch  and  the 
Psalms,  between  the  liistoric  books  and  the  prophets, 
between  the  occasions  and  beginnings  of  laws  and 
observances,  and  the  obedience  of  the  people,  and 
the  mouldiug,  discijsline,  and  growth  of  the  national 
character,  are  a  web  of  demonstrations  such  as  can 
not  be  found  in  the  institutions   and   histories,   the 


iv  Preface. 

literatui-e  and  life,  the  geography  and  local  peculiar- 
ities, or  the  gloiy  and  the  crunes  and  sufferings  of 
any  other  nation  on  earth.  There  is  nothing  else- 
where aj^proaching  it.  It  is  an  indisputable,  inde- 
structible tissue  of  laws,  promises,  warnings,  pre- 
dictions, fulfilments,  events,  providences,  statutes, 
customs,  social  and  religious  institutions,  and  super- 
natural sanctions  and  awards,  interwoven  under  one 
divine  plan;  and  the  unity  is  a  perfect  despotism  of 
significance,  from  the  sunlight  of  which  no  part  can 
be  withdrawn,  and  under  which  every  book  must  be 
interpreted. 

But  we  need  for  such  interpretation,  in  stvidying 
the  Word  as  well  as  the  works  of  God,  both  a  tele- 
scopic and  microscopic  vision;  the  telescope  to  see 
farther  off  into  immeasurable  space  and  quantity, 
and  the  microscope  to  trace  minute  relations  and 
connections  of  the  nearest  and  smallest  of  God's 
works  and  words  with  the  most  distant  and  the 
largest.  For  they  are  aU  one,  and  all  have  more  or 
less  the  brightness  and  express  image,  the  dna.vya6i.ict 
and  A:'^/-'";«r;/,'j,  of  His  glory,  by  whom  and  through 
whom  and  for  whom  are  all  things;  so  that  the  whole 


Preface,  v 

created  universe,  material  and  immaterial,  and  all  in- 
telligences therein,  are  a  Christian  universe,  with  a 
Chi'istian  character  and  design;  and  the  Law,  over 
all  laws,  and  for  aU  beings  and  things,  is  the  law  of 
righteousness  in  Christ;  of  whom  the  whole  family 
in  heaven  and  eaiih  are  named;  neither  is  there  any 
real  progress  possible,  in  theology  or  in  natural  science, 
but  only  in  and  under  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  in  whose  name  aU  nations  are  to  be  in- 
structed and  baptized. 

The  instruction,  the  baptism,  the  infinite  mystery, 
and  the  results,  are  indisputable  vouchers  for  God's 
Word,  as  beyond  aU  question  //;'.s  Word,  not  man's. 
Here  are  faith,  doubt,  evidence,  inspiration,  infalli- 
bility, assui'ance,  and  eternal  life. 

Faith  is  the  oi'igin  and  justifying  ground  of  hope, 
which  is  the  result,  through  prayer,  of  even  the  least 
degree  of  faith  in  God's  promises.  Then  hope,  exer- 
cised in  prayer  through  faith,  begins  to  realize  God's 
Word  in  assurance,  by  the  "  Earnest  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  heart."  But  hope  imphes  doubt;  and  fear  by 
reason  of  the  eternal  consequences  depending,  is  a 


vi  Preface. 

just  and  bealtlifui  correlative  and  stimulant  of  both. 
Thus,  faith  and  doubt,  animated  and  inspired  by 
hope,  -work  out  the  demonstration.  Doubt  itself  be- 
comes the  means  and  index  of  investigation;  sharp- 
ens a  man's  criticism  and  inquisitiveness,  by  the  very 
sincerity  and  anguish  of  his  x>erplexities,  seeking  the 
right,  the  safe,  the  holy  path.  An  Indian  on  a  trail 
is  but  made  the  keener  and  more  careful  in  his  search, 
by  his  uncertainties. 

Faith  would  cease  both  its  preciousness  and  its 
l^raise,  as  well  as  its  usefulness,  if  there  were  no 
grounds  of  doubt.  Actual  sight  puts  faith  behind,  not 
before ;  and  hope  that  is  seen  is  not  hope,  for  what  a 
man  seeth,  why  doth  he  yet  hope  for?  But  if  we 
hope  for  that  we  see  not,  then  do  we  with  patience 
wait  and  labor  for  it,  because  of  our  faith  in  God, 
and  in  His  "Word.  Inspired  and  urged  by  doubt, 
faith  and  hope  work  out  the  evidence  by  which  the 
soul  rests  in  God.  Faith  becomes  the  siihslanlia  of 
things  hoped  for  (the  vnodradii),  and  brings  to  light 
the  evidence  of  thuigs  not  seen. 

A  screw  is  swifter  than  an  arrow;  for  its  alh',  its 
lever,  is  resistance.     A  screw  adapted  to  the  air,  as 


Preface.  vli 

an  iron  propeller  to  the  water,  would  be  swift  as  the 
lightning.  Knowledge  advances  and  accumulates  by- 
obstacles.  Evidence  does  not  come  in  a  straight  line 
of  propositions  and  conclusions,  but  pom-s  in  from 
a  multitude  of  side  and  interweaving  brooks  and 
streams,  that  themselves  have  wound  their  way 
among  mountains  and  tumbled  over  precipices.  So 
that  an  an-ay  of  evidences  may  be  more  truly  logi- 
cal, more  absolutely  demonstrative,  in  fragmentary 
and  desultory  processes,  of  experiments,  interfer- 
ences and  cross-hghts,  duels  of  incidence  and  coinci- 
dence, reflection  and  refi-action,  than  by  steel  links 
in  any  one  chain. 

The  heat  of  earnest  doubt  is  as  the  smoking  flax, 
working  for  flame.  God  values  it,  Christ  hallows  and 
blesses  it.  And  in  its  very  nature  such  doubt  works 
by  faith  and  for  faith,  and  lays  hold  of  all  things,  in- 
tertwisting atid  conquering  (as  Jacob,  the  wrestler  at 
midnight,)  with  obstacles  seemingly  omnipotent,  but 
whose  resistance  gives  strength;  just  as  an  immeas- 
urable screw  in  its  vast  and  mighty  revolutions  might 
make  the  ocean  and  the  whole  material  universe  its 
propelling  shaft.     Thus  God's  own  love  wrestles  with 


viii  Preface. 

Spii'itual  sin  and  death,  and  brings  good  out  of  evil, 
causing  the  wi'ath  of  men  and  devils  to  praise  Him 
and  restraining  the  remainder  of  wrath.  God's  old 
mii'acles  are  kept  w^orking  new  results,  just  as  Aaron's 
rod  that  blossomed  was  laid  up  in  the  ark  for  occasion 
of  new  rebellions. 

In  Blunt's  admii'able  volume  of  "Undesigned  Co- 
incidences," he  remarks,  in  considering  the  veracity 
of  the  Books  of  Moses,  that  "the  more  attentively 
and  scrupulously  we  examine  the  Scriptiu'es,  the  more 
we  shall  be  convinced  that  the  natural  and  supernat- 
ural events  recorded  in  them  must  stand  or  fall  to- 
gether. The  Spirit  of  mirojcles  possesses  the  entire  body 
of  the  Bible,  and  can  not  he  cast  out  xoilhout  rending  in 
pieces  the  lohole  frame  of  the  hUtory  itself,  merely  con- 
sidered as  a  history."  * 

Of  these  historic  correlations,  the  existence  of  which 
is  itself  a  proof  of  the  miraculous  presence  of  God,  as 
clear  as  the  shining  of  the  sun,  tlic  passage  in  Deut. 

•  "Vci-acity  of  the  Books  of  Moses,"  Part  I.  Also,  Stilling- 
fleet's  "Origines  Sacno,"  vol.  i.  b.  ii.,  on  Moses  and  Miracles. 
Oxford  edition,  183C.  Also,  Havernick,  "Introd.  Pentateuch " 
p.  4AG,  Edinburgh,  1850. 


Preface.  ix 

xxxi.  24^27,  and  the  repetition  of  the  same  in  verses 
28,  29,  30,  are  an  instance  so  remarkable,  that  it  might 
have  been  set  at  the  head  of  the  argument  for  a  mi- 
raculous interposition  down  to  the  coming  of  Christ. 
"  Take  this  book  of  the  law,  and  put  it  in  the  side 
of  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your  God, 
that  it  may  be  there  for  a  ivilness  against  thee."  Thus 
Moses  by  the  will  of  the  Lord  commanded  the  Le- 
vites,  having  previously  (Moses  and  Joshua  together), 
received  theu'  charge  fi*om  God,  in  the  tabernacle  of 
the  congregation,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  people. 
"  Write  ye  this  song  for  you,  and  teach  it  to  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel.  Put  it  in  then-  mouths,  that  this  song 
may  be  a  witness  for  IVIe  against  the  children  of 
Israel.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  many  evils 
and  troubles  are  befallen  them,  that  this  song  shall 
TESTIFY  against  THEM  AS  A  WITNESS;  for  it  shall  not  be 
forgotten  out  of  the  mouths  of  theu'  seed.  Moses 
therefore  wrote  this  song  the  same  day,  and  taught 
it  the  children  of  Israel,"  and  gave  Joshua  God's 
charge.  The  song  is  then  recorded,  and  at  the  end 
of  its  recital  it  is  added,  ih(U  Moses  spake  all  the  icorda 
of  tills  song,  in  the  ears  of  the  people,  he,  and  Joshua 


X  Preface. 

the  son  of  Nuu.  And  Moses  made  an  end  of  sj^eak- 
ing  all  these  words  to  all  Israel.  And  he  said  unto 
them,  "  Set  your  hearts  unto  all  the  words  which  I 
testify'  among  you  this  day,  which  ye  shaU  command 
^•our  children  to  observe  to  do,  all  the  words  of  this 
law.     For  it  is  not  a  vain  thing  for  you,  because  it  is 

YOUR   LIFE." 

Your  life  ;  and  a  witness  against  yourselves,  he- 
cause  it  condemns  you,  and  may  lead  you  back  to  God, 
■who  alone  can  forgive  and  redeem  you !  This  is 
God's  merciful  educational  discipline,  begun  and  de- 
monstrated with  the  Israehtes,  and  continued  for 
centuries  in  the  whole  course  of  His  providences  and 
proj)hets  from  Samuel  to  Malachi;  and  thence  for- 
ward on  the  same  principles  with  all  mankind,  in  all 
kingdoms  and  nations,  to  the  end  of  time,  even  for 
life  eternal,  which  is  the  gift  offered  to  all,  by  the 
Root  and  the  Offspring  of  David,  the  Bright  and  the 
Morning  Star,  so  long  as  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride 
say  come.  The  Jews  have  a  life-interest  in  this,  as 
long  as  the  world  stands,  which  will  certainly  be  till 
the  twelfth  chanter  of  Romans  is  fulliUed;  "and  so 
all  Israel  shall  be  saved:  for  this  is  my  covenant  unto 


Preface.  xi 

them  wlien  I  shall  take  away  theu-  sins."  The  whole 
New  Testament  belongs  as  entu-ely  to  the  Jews  as  to 
the  Gentiles;  from  Genesis  to  the  Apocalypse,  their 
Saviom-  and  ours  is  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  Faith 
in  the  Blessed  Word  of  God  that  endureth  forever. 

We  wonder  as  we  read  this  record,  so  sacredly  and 
unalterably  preserved  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  for 
four  thousand  years  unto  this  day,  by  what  power  of 
assurance,  what  indwelhng  safeguards  against  fraud, 
it  could  have  been  locked  upon  a  nation's  conscience, 
seeing  that  it  would  be  for  aU  ages,  an  undeniable 
and  self-acknowledged  verdict  of  that  conscience 
against  themselves.  And  we  immediately  find  in  the 
correlations  between  this  song  of  indictment  in  the 
thirty-second  chapter,  and  the  blessing  that  follows 
in  the  thu-ty-third,  a  connection  so  indestructible  be- 
tween the  curses  and  the  blessings  of  the  Almighty, 
that  a  penitential  acknowledgment  of  the  first  was  an 
essential  condition  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  last. 

It  is  not  possible  to  pick  this  lock,  or  deny  any 
part  of  it  as  a  forgery  against  the  people,  without 
converting  the  whole  into  an  assurance  of  irreversible 
destruction.     Doubt  and  fear  through  consciousness 


xii  Preface. 

of  guilt,  balanced  by  faith  and  Lojie  in  God's  mercy, 
make  up  a  compound  safety  lock,  which  can  not  be 
opened  without  God's  key  and  combination  cipher, 
except  by  blowing  the  safe  and  the  whole  building 
to  pieces,  with  all  that  do  business  therein.  And  thus, 
faith,  fear,  and  the  reason  of  self-regard,  in  and  through 
a  conscience  towards  •  God,  preserved  from  generation 
to  generation  as  the  central  element  of  a  religious 
education,  were  the  protecting  combination  of  mii-ac- 
ulous  efficacy,  in  the  preservation  of  these  records; 
over  which,  through  all  the  wanderings  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  the  miracle  of  a  cloud  by  day  and  a 
pillar  of  fire  by  night  rested;  assuring  them  that  the 
omniscience  and  omnipotence  of  Jehovah  kept  guard; 
and  that  a  penitential  and  j)rayerful  acknowledgment 
of  God's  justice  in  the  song  would  forever  be  an  in- 
disputable condition  of  the  jiossibility  of  God's  for- 
giving and  redeeming  mercy  in  the  salvation  through 
the  promised  Messiah  and  Saviour,  who  was  to  be, 
for  all  that  would  believe  in  Him,  The  Lord,  our 
RiGirrEOusNEss. 

Take  we  then  as  a  fit  jireface  to  our  argument,  the 
pregnant   words  of  Lord   Brooke    on   the   "  Uses   of 


Preface.  xiii 

Human  Learning,"  written  about  the  year  1G28,  when 
John  Bunyan  began  his  Pilgrim  Life,  without  knowl- 
edge of  any  other  book  than  his  Bible,  and  out  of 
the  Bible  wrote  his  "Jerusalem  Sixxer  Saved." 

"And  to  conclude,  whether  we  would  erect 

Ourselves  or  others  by  the  choice  of  arts. 
Our  chief  endeavor  must  be  to  effect 

A  sound  foundation,  not  on  sandy  parts, 
Of  light  opinion,  self-ness,  words  of  men, 
But  that  suee  Kock  of  Truth,  God's  Wobd,  God's  pex. 

"And  if  this  wisdom  only  can  be  found 

By  seeking  God,  e(;e;i  in  ihe  faith  Ue  gives; 
If  earth,  heaven,  sea,  stars,  creatures,  be  the  bound 

Wherein  revealed,  His  power  and  wisdom  lives; 
If  true  obedience  be  the  way  to  this. 
And  only  who  grows  better,  wiser  is, — 

"Then  let  not  curious  silly  flesh  conceive 
Itself  more  rich,  or  hapi^y,  when  it  Imows 
Those  words  of  art,  which  men  (as  shells)  must  cleave. 

Before  the  life's  true  wisdom  they  disclose. 
Truth  is  no  counsellor  to  assist  the  evil; 
And  in  his  own,  who  wiser  than  the  Devil? 


xiv  Preface. 


"For  only  that  man  understands  indeed, 

And  well  remembers,  wliich  he  well  can  do: — 
The  laws  live,  only  where  the  law  doth  breed    the  and 

Obedience  to  the  works  it  binds  us  to: — 
And  as  the  life  of  wisdom  hath  expresst. 
If  this  you  know,  then  do  it,  and  be  blest." 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


INTEODUCTION. 
The  Pillars  of  Christianity;  the  History  of  the  Jews,  and  the 
Biography  of  Jesus— Infidelity  assails  both— Faith  in  God 
accepts  both— Limits  of  historic  Keality— God's  Notes  on 
Genesis— Belief  in  God  the  first  Exercise  of  a  reasonable 
Soul— God's  Word  committed  to  Writing;  never  left  to 
Tradition— The  Oracles  of  God  committed  to  the  Jews  for 
Keeping;  to  Christ  and  His  Spirit  for  Fulfilment,  Inter- 
pretation, and  Proof— The  Ministry  of  the  Priesthood, 
and  God's  Education  of  Mankind,  by  Laws  and  Warnings 
—The  History  of  the  Jews  a  Demonstration  for  Mankind 
in  all  Ages— God's  Arrangement  of  Means  and  Gifts  of 
Power  for  the  Spread  of  saving  Truth— God's  Volume  a 
Library  of  Principles  for  the  Life  everlasting— The  Whole 
is  this,  that  God  is  Love— The  Conditions  of  historic  Evi- 
dence—The Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  infallible  or 
null— The  educating  Ministry  of  Faith  and  Prayer— Ex- 
amples of  Neibuhr  and  Franklin,  for  Individuals  and 
Nations , ^^^-^ 

I. 

The  History  of  Franklin's  Autobiography  in  the  Manuscript 
—Its  diverse  Copies,  and  the  Translations  of  them 1 

II. 

Eecovery  and  Examination  of  the  missing  original  Auto- 
graph, by  Mr.  Bigelow  in  1867 11 

III. 

Alterations  and  Omissions  in  the  first  printed  Copy— The 
Questions  of  Genuineness— Eight  Pages  wanting  in  aU 
the  earliest  MS.  and  printed  Copies 17 


xvi  Contents. 


IV. 

Similar  possible  Predicaments  of  the  Gospel  Manuscripts — 
Particularly  of  Mark  and  John 22 

Y. 

Uncertainties  in  the  Transmission  of  Manuscripts— Internal 
Evidence  superior  to  all  other 26 

VI. 

Lessons  from  Franklin's  Autobiography  as  to  the  Close  of 
Mai'k's  Gospel — The  Oxiinion  and  Arguments  of  Hug 30 

VII. 

Lessons  as  to  John  viii.  1-12 — Conjectures  of  the  Critics ...     39 

VIII. 

Opinions  of  Alford  and  Lightfoot— Ai'guments  of  Eusebius, 
Lardner  and  Tregelles  on  Papias — Testimony  in  Lightfoot's 
Works  (1683)  on  the  same — Authorities  for  the  Integrity 
of  John's  Gospel— Sources  of  the  Conjectures  to  the  Con- 
trary       46 

IX. 

Indisputable  Connection  of  Thought  and  Congruity  of  Style 
— Internal  Evidence  of  Inspiration,  and  Improbabilities 
of  Forgery 51 

X. 

niustrative  Comparison  of  Franklin's  printed  Editions  with 
his  own  discovered  Manuscript 61 

XI. 

Autobiography  of  Moses — Christ  and  Genesis— Inspiration 
and  Unity  of  the  Pentateuch 71 


Contenls,  xvii 


XII. 

Eras,  Permanence,  and  Sameness  of  the  Hebrew  Language 
A  Shechinah  of  God's  Presence — A  Divine  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  for  the  Soul 80 

XIII. 

Restlessness  of  sceptical  Sagacity — Franklin  on  scouring  the 
Anchor — An  infallible  Inspiration  necessary  for  the  Con- 
veyance of  Divine  Truth  .• 89 

xiy. 

Catalogues  and  Qualities  of  our  MS.  Authorities — Tischen- 
dorf  s  Disco veiy — Expedients  of  the  Destructives — Cer- 
tainties of  Eesults 96 

XV. 

Antecedent  Probabilities — Bengel  and  Gaussen  on  the  i>len- 
ary  Infallible  Inspiration — Vastuess  of  Investigations,  and 
Positiveness  of  the  Besults 107 

XVI. 

Franklin's  Illustrations  of  the  supposed  but  mistaken  Infalli- 
bility of  the  Critics — Letter  and  Spiiit  inseparable 115 

XVII. 

The  Sources  of  true  critical  Discei-nment  and  Power — Bengel 
and  his  Gnomon — Less  and  less  Doubt  with  every  succes- 
sive Translation 122 

XVI I  r. 

A  quieting  Uncertainty — The  Certainties  evolved  from  the 
Variations— Internal  EWdence  Decisive  in  Cases  of  Doubt .   128 

XIX. 

Defence  of  the  angelic  Hymn  (Luke  ii.  13,  14)  on  these 
Principles 133 


xviii  Contents. 


XX. 

Defence  of  the  Doxology  in  our  Lord's  Prayer  by  the  same 
Evidence 138 

XXI. 

Scepticism  the  Work  of  llisinterpretation  and  Mistake— In- 
stanced in  the  Case  of  Colenso— No  Word  for  Siate  in  the 
Hebrew  Language 142 

XXII. 

God's  Eight  of  Prepossession  in  the  himan  Mind  with  His 
own  Truth 154 

XXIII. 

God's  Method  of  a  Prepossessing  Love,  in  the  human  Con- 
science—The Holy  Spirit  bearing  witness  with  our  Spirit- 
Conclusions  as  to  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament,  all  his- 
toric certainty  grounded  in  Christ,  and  in  the  Lifallibility 
of  his  Words— The  Nature  and  Extent  of  Divine  Inspira- 
tion taught  only  by  Him— A  Divine  Revelation  inevitable 
from  the  Gfoodness  of  God;  consequent  hereditaiy  Con- 
viction, of  the  Divine  Inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Hence 
our  Lord's  Assertion  of  the  Kights  of  Children,  in  His 
knowledge 158 


XXIV  &  XX  Y, 

Method  of  the  Destructive  Critics— Denial  of  the  Super- 
natural     167 

Displacement  of  the  genuine  historic  Narratives,  by  imagi- 
nary "Books  of  Origins  "-Postulate  of  the  Universal 
Falsehood  of  any  Divine  Inspiration  —  Examples  from 
DeWette,  Ewidd,  Kuenen  and  Colenso— Eternal  RcBults 
demonstrate  the  Necessity  of  an  Infallible  Inspiration- 
Christ's  Axiom    167 


Contents.  xix 

XXVI. 

The  Bule  and  Regulator  of  our  Reason  is  the  Word  of  God 
— Our  Compass  and  Chronometer  for  Time  and  Eternity — 
Bishop  Butler's  Postulate  of  a  Future  Life  and  Retribu- 
tion— The  same  in  Ecclesiastes— A  Book  clearing  up  all 
DiflSculties  by  the  Announcement  of  a  Divine  Judgment 
in  Righteousness 186 

XXYII. 

Faith  in  God  or  Man,  inevitable — "Which  is  most  reasonable  ? 
— The  old  Hebrew  Oath,  for  the  Confirmation  of  all  truth, 
AS  THE  Lord  liveth — No  such  Thing  possible  as  a  mere 
secular  horizon — His  Attributes  inevitably  made  known 
to  Mankind— Instances  from  Abraham  and  Job,  to  Christ 
and  Paul — The  Thoughts  of  Marcus  Aurclius 196 

XXVIII. 

The  Alignment  from  the  Etemitj'  of  God  to  the  Certainty  of 
a  Divine  Revelation — What  may  be  learned  from  a  Lake- 
picture — The  Law  of  human  Intelligence  from  the  Creator 
through  a  Reverberation  of  Eternity  in  the  Soul — The 
Choice  and  Meaning  of  the  Words  for  the  Commerce  of 
Thought  between  Time  and  Eternity — The  Words  for  Sin, 
Holiness  and  Redemjjtion  —  Archbishop  Trench  on  the 
SjTionyms  of  the  New  Testament— Prof  Stnart  on  the  In- 
spiration of  Words  in  the  Divine  Quotations 211 

XXIX. 

Settlement  of  Certainties— What  did  the  old  Hebrews  believe 
and  know  as  to  Death,  Life,  Immortality  and  Heaven? — 
Testimony  of  the  Psalms,  and  Proverbs;  of  Hezekiah  and 
of  the  Apocrypha— The  most  spiritual  Men  in  their  most 
spiritual  Moments — Literature  of  the  Seventeenth  Cen-  • 
tury — Agnosticism  tried  by  the  Creed  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob  and  Joseph— All  God's  Promises  are  everlasting 
Covenants  addressed  to  the  Idea  of  a  known  eternal  Re- 
sponsibility to  God,  organic  in  the  human  Reason 221 


XX  Contents. 


XXX. 

Forms  of  Prayer,  and  God's  benevolent  Disciplinary  Work 
by  means  of  Them  upon  the  Soul— Prayers  of  Noah, 
Abraham,  Job,  Jacob,  Moses,  David  and  Solomon  and  the 
prophets,  down  to  Paul — God's  Presence  in  all  these  Sup- 
lilications,  an  illumination  in  the  Soul — "I  beseech  thee. 
Show  me  thy  Glory  " 234 

XXXI. 

Belying  the  Word  of  the  Lord  a  modern  as  well  as  ancient 
Form  of  Blasphemy  and  Cruelty— Will  a  Man  rob  God?— 
The  Curse  pronounced  against  such  Treatment  of  Divine 
Truth— Christ  Himself  involved  in  this  Blasphemy 247 

XXXII. 

The  Crucifixion  between  two  Thieves  renewed  at  this  Day 
by  intelligent  and  learned  Scoffers  —  Examples  of  such 
Treatment  in  the  "Encyclopedia  Britannica"— A  Primer 
of  the  Creed  of  Second  Hand  RationaUsm— The  Conse- 
quences of  such  stereotyped  Scepticism 254 

XXXIII. 

Christ's  Claims  as  the  only  Inspirer  and  Interpreter  of 
God's  Word,  and  no  more  Uucertaiuty- Our  method  is  to 
press  the  Scriptures  as  Christ  and  His  Apostles  pressed 
them— The  adjuring  certainty  of  Paul— No  Supposition 
admitted  by  Christ  of  any  po-ssible  Uncertainty  or  Mis- 
take—Nothing less  than  a  plenary  verbal  Inspiration 
demonstrated  in  Christ's  Picasoning 265 

XXXIV. 

God's  own  Vonchers  unimpeachable,  cumulative  and  still 
evolving  from  Generation  to  Generation— Bishop  Stilling- 
fleet  Canon  of  exegctical  Criticism 271 


Contents.  xxi 


XXXV. 

John  Foster  on  Christianity  and  Science — Combination  and 
Concentration  of  Proofs  in  the  Comparison  of  Prophets 
and  Historians 281 

XXXVI. 

A  Divine  Eevealcr  admitted,  that  which  He  reveals  must 
be  infallible — The  Revelation  must  be  made  in  Words  in- 
fallible—But the  Claim  of  Infallibility  fatal  to  any  Pre- 
tender—God alone  can  safely  make  such  a  Claim — Only 
God  in  Christ  demonstrates  it 292 

XXXVII. 

What  God  has  bestowed,  what  we  have  gained,  and  how  to 
use  it...., 297 

XXXVIII. 

Paul's  Instructions  and  Timothy's  Experience — The  Word  a 
Spiritual  Telegraph — The  Education  and  Training  requi- 
site for  the  effectual  Ministration  of  Truth — Original  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  only  by  the  Indwelling  of  Chiist  in  the 
Heart — Scott's  "Force  of  Truth" — Confession  of  Christ  by 
the  dying  Thief 303 


INTEODUCTIOK 


One  of  Frederick's  chaplains  is  said  to  have  rej)Hed 
to  him,  when  he  asked  for  a  brief  demonstration  of 
Christianity,  "  The  Jews,  your  majesty ! "  It  was  a 
sudden  concentration  of  truth,  Hke  that  of  Christ  for 
the  woman  of  Samaria,  "  We  know  what  we  worship, 
for  SALVATION  IS  OF  THE  Jews;  "  and  that  salvation  is  the 
whole  of  Christianity.  The  Jews  included  Moses,  and 
the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms;  all  tlie  Old  Testament 
hterature  and  demonstration  before  Christ;  and  at 
this  day  the  Jews  are  the  continued  miracle  of  Chris- 
tianity over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  Let  any  man 
ask  sincerely  tcho  and  ichence  the  Jews  are,  and  he  will 
find  "  God  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself." 

Christianity  rests  on  these  two  divine  pillars:  the 
history  of  the  Jews,  and  the  biograiihy  of  Jesus.  The 
existence  of  either  is  impossible  without  a  sujjernatural 
origin,  and  the  one  demonstrates  the  other.  A  destruc- 
tive criticism  assails  both  the  history  and  biography  as 
a  compound  of  myths  and  impostures.  The  history 
of  the  JcAvs  is  a  record  of  God's  providence  with  them, 
from  Adam  to  the  coming  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 
It  is  a  history  of  prayer  and  faith,  through  God's  merci- 
ful promises,  and  of  human  redemption  through  Christ's 
appointed  and  predicted  sufferings  and  death.     It  is 


xxiv  hitroditdion. 


thus  a  lustoiy  of  the  beginnings  and  growth  of  all  Chris- 
tian ideas  and  institutions. 

The  heir  by  entail  of  all  the  assumed  historic  relig- 
ions in  the  world  might  choose  out,  here  and  there, 
a  Confucius,  a  Zoroaster,  a  Socrates,  a  Boodh,  a  Ma- 
homet. Is  there  one  of  these  religions  that  has  any 
si^iritual  truth  whatever,  which  was  not  first  in  the 
foretold  and  accomphshed  Christianity  of  the  Word  of 
God?  But  if  we  should  select  from  them  all  every 
good  thing,  still,  without  Chi'ist  and  Him  crucified, 
we  have  nothing.     If  we  accept  Him,  we  have  all  the 

TRUTH    THAT    IS    OF    ANY   WORTH    AS    A    RELIGION    FOR    MAN- 
KIND   IN    ALL   AGES. 

And  aU  the  vocabulary  of  prehistoric  and  unknown 
eras  or  forms  of  worship  beyond  the  book  of  Genesis 
is  but  an  ignoring  of  the  limitations  of  true  historic 
reahty,  and  an  attempt  to  sujjpty  a  vacuum  of  uncer- 
tainty by  conjectures.  There  is  no  such  interval,  nor 
ever  has  been,  of  unrecorded  truth  for  our  reliance. 
It  is  all  bridged  over  by  the  only  absolutely  true  his- 
tory in  existence,  going  back  to  the  origin  of  things, 
the  first  existence  of  earth  and  man.  Beyond  that 
lies  the  only  jDrehistoric  reahty,  that  is,  God  self-ex- 
istent, the  Creator.  There  divine  history  begins,  and 
never  ends.  Thence  the  stream  flows  down ;  and  myths 
and  fables  are  the  work  of  those  who  have  not  dwelt 
on  that  stream,  nor  known  historic  realities. 

The  Egyj)tians  come  to  our  knowledge  first  of  all 
as  a  nation,- in  that  divine  history;  afterwards,  in  the 
pages  of  Herodotus;  then  in  the  monuments  discov- 
ered and  deciphered.     So  xVssyria,  Nineveh,  Babylon, 


Introdtiction.  xxv 


and  the  disinterred  cities,  mth  their  stone  and  baked- 
brick  hbraries  are  an  illustrative  commentary  as  un- 
deniable as  the  coal  mines  and  chalk  mountains  of  the 
globe.  And  panting  Time  toils  after  the  Divine  Prov- 
idence with  its  chronology  and  its  hieroglyphics,  not 
in  vaiu,  but  as  the  sure  Jind  patient  fulfiller  and  inter- 
preter, as  well  as  note-taker  of  divinel}'  prophesied 
events.  And  so,  all  our  geological  and  antiquarian 
discoveries,  the  disinterments  of  the  Theban  Tombs, 
and  whatever  be  the  mathematics  of  the  Pyramids,  are 
merely  God's  own  notes  on  Genesis.  This  is  the  book, 
in  which  Chi"ist  Himself  planted  the  jjiUars  of  His  sys- 
tem of  redemption.  It  is  the  book  in  whose  written 
verl)al  statements  of  facts  He  rested  the  foundations 
of  the  divine  government  over  men;  the  divine  au- 
thority and  meaning  of  the  two  governing  and  mould- 
ing institutions  of  human  society  through  the  world, 
— marriage  and  the  Sabbath;  the  preservation  of  all 
purity,  intelligence,  culture,  progress,  love  to  God  and 
man,  knowledge  and  worshiji  of  God;  at  the  same  time, 
the  deadly  nature  of  sin  against  God,  and  the  need 
and  promise  of  a  Redecmei*.  The  book,  from  the  di- 
vine authorship  and  infaUibility  of  which  Christ  dem- 
onstrated the  future  hfe  as  made  known  of  God  to 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  to  Moses  through  the 
same  divine  history;  the  appeal  being  from  link  to  link 
in  such  wise,  that  every  thought,  word,  statement,  is 
part  of  an  undeniable  unity. 

A  book  holding  \\^  all  things  in  the  history  of  our 
race  in  the  atmosphere  of  eternal  light  and  coiv^quences; 
the  fall  of  man,  the  assurance  of  God's  interposition 
for  his  recovery,  the  communion  of  God  with  succes- 


XX  vi  Introduction. 


sive  leaders,  fathers,  commanders,  and  teachers  of  the 
peoj^le;  a  communion  so  definite  and  known,  so  abso- 
lute, eternal,  and  for  all  generations,  that  Christ  refers 
to  its  human  jxirtakers  and  covenanters,  passed  into 
the  heavens  and  now  living  with  God,  as  examples  of 
the  immortality  and  eternal  responsibility  of  all  man- 
kind ;  and  accepts  and  sanctions  the  references  of  Moses 
to  that  book  as  God's  own  references.  It  is  the  first 
book  of  eternal  realities,  the  seed  book  of  faith  in  God, 
the  root  book  of  the  whole  Divme  Revelation.  A  book, 
the  austere  simplicity  of  w^hich  stands  in  such  contrast 
with  all  other  remnants  of  tradition  and  history  among 
men,  that  the  deniers  of  its  divine  inspii'ation  ai'e  di'iven 
to  the  necessity  of  tearing  it  in  fragments,  and  then 
inteii:>olating  and  piecing  it  up  with  conjectured  fables 
like  the  m^-thological  origins  of  the  races  of  oriental 
antiquity,  so  as  to  bring  it  to  the  same  level  of  human 
criticism  and  credibility,  rejecting  the  supernatiu'al  and 
di\ine. 

The  prevailing  tmbelief  is  both  careless  in  its  meth- 
ods and  reckless  of  its  consequences;  two  things  that 
work  illumtable  devastation  and  iniin.  For  indeed  we 
are  born  not  only  into  God's  world,  with  oiu*  frame 
feai'fully  and  wondei-fuU}'  made,  in  minutest  adaptation 
to  the  material  forces  and  laws  of  the  world  {nafitre's 
pluck,  as  Prof.  Huxley  warns  .us  of  its  despotism,  and 
commands  us  to  obey,  or  talce  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences, no  redemption  pos.sible),  bvit  into  God's  .sp/r- 
itual  trulh,  with  mills  conformed  and  adapted  to  it,  breath- 
ing it,  and  inspu'ed  by  it,  as  the  lungs  in  God's  balmy 
atmosphere.     And  therefore  hdief,  not  doubt,  is  the 


Introduction. 


xxvu 


very  firxf  hcnllhful  orr/anizuig  exercise  of  tlie  human  soul. 
For  it  is  in  God's  light  that  we  see  light,  and  were  born 
to  live  by  breathing  it,  not  by  doubling.  All  science  is 
God's  own  truth,  and  being  taught  by  Him,  it  is  all 
iipirilaal  science  in  Him ;  forever  increasing  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  God,  its  author;  making  us  children  of  light, 
and  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  mints  in  light,  by 
beheving  in  Christ,  who  is  "the  true  light  that  lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world." 

"  That  thy  trust  may  be  in  Die  Lord,  I  have  made  known 
to  thee;  have  I  not  written  to  thek,  excellent  things  in 
counsel  and  knowledge;  that  I  might  m.vke  thee  know 

THE  certainty  OF  THE  WORDS  OF  TRUTH,  that   tllOU    migllt- 

est  answer  the  icoi'ds  of  truth  to  them  that  send  unto 
thee  ?  "  Prov.  xxii.  17-21.  "  It  is  a  pleasant  thing  it 
thou  keep  them  within  thee;  they  shall  withal  he  fitted 
in  thy  lipa."  Let  any  man  read,  along  with  this  pas- 
sage, the  third  and  the  eighth  chapter  of  Proverbs; 
and  he  can  not  doubt  the  assertion  and  the  knowledge 
of  a  verbal  inspiration  from  God,  among  the  people  for 
whose  use  these  divine  instructions  were  given.  Job, 
the  Psalms,  Proverbs,  and  Ecclesiastes,  occujjy  the  cen- 
tre of  the  Scriptures; — history  and  prophecy,  tempta- 
tion and  faith,  i)rayer  and  jiraise,  foresight  and  ex- 
l^erience.  History  tii-st  of  all  grows  out  of  prophecy; 
then  prophecy  is  fulfilled  in  history;  and  both  present 
to  faith  a  mass  of  internal  evidence,  the  record  of 
which  would  have  been  impossible  except  by  divine 
omniscience. 

What  has  ever  kejjt  the  world  anchored  to  God,  but 
just  this,  It  is  written  ?    Had  there  beeai  only  the  evi- 


xxviii  Introduction. 


dence  of  traditional  liuowledge,  which  is  always  tradi- 
tional uncertainty,  there  would  have  been  as  many 
rehgions,  and  of  equal  authority,  as  there  are  idols  in 
polytheism.  What  is  written  in  the  Law?  The  con- 
ditions of  eternal  life  are  written,  to  be  read  and  known 
of  all.  They  were  never  received  by  tradition  from 
the  Fathers. 

And  who  are  they  that  have  kej)t  the  written  truth, 
as  being  in  itself  the  presence  and  authority  of  the 
Hving  God?  The  Jews,  generation  after  generation, 
often  at  the  cost  of  martyrdom.  A  succession  of  He- 
brew heroes,  who  were  born  with  an  innate  prepos- 
sessing sense  of  the  divine  inspiration  and  authority  of 
the  sacred  books,  and  would  preserve  them  from  de- 
sti-uction  and  stand  by  them  at  the  peril  of  death,  not 
accepting  dehverance  when  the  question  was  between 
deserting  their  trust  with  the  word  of  God,  or  dying. 

And  by  whose  faithfulness  were  the  words  of  God 
proclaimed  and  made  known  to  them?  By  a  succes- 
sion, well  known,  of  men  of  whom  the  world  Avas  not 
Avorthy;  such  as  Moses,  Samuel,  David,  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, and  the  prophets.  But  if  these  men  had  not 
also  lorUlen  as  well  as  spoken  the  word  of  God,  of  what 
avail  to  those  who  followed  after  ?  And  without  the 
same  Holy  Spirit  in  their  hearts  and  lips /or  urifing 
down  the  record  of  the  revelation,  there  could  have 
been  no  divine  certainty  in  that. 

Who  then  can  authenticate  the  xcriling,  or  make  us 
sure,  without  possibility  of  error,  of  that  which  is 
comprehended  in  the  phrase  for  our  guidance,  as  to 
the  right  worship  of  God,  It  is  written  ?  Who  but  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  Faith  ? 


Introduction. 


XXIX 


For  He  came  with  that  manifestation  of  authority  and 
demonstration  of  all  the  truth  that  was  and  is  and  is 
to  come ;  Himself  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life,  the 
Word  made  flesh,  and  dwelling  among  us.  He  came 
not  to  render  theology  an  uncertain  science,  nor  to 
abolish  any  of  its  truths,  but  to  perfect  and  fulfil. 
The  Author  and  Finisher  of  Faith  did  never  bequeath 
a  legacy  of  doubts  for  the  i:)erplexity  and  quarrelling 
of  all  generations,  or  a  case  in  chanceiy  for  the  sup- 
port of  lawyers  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

Is  any  thing  ever  assured  to  us  without  a  promise 
in  Christ?  And  is  any  thing  promised  to  any  one  in 
the  Scriptures  that  is  not  also  promised  to  lis,  on  the 
faith  of  His  suiferings  and  death  for  all  mankind? 
Therefore  we  are  right  in  taking  the  very  highest  view 
and  sense  of  all  that  we  can  find  in  a  divine  revelation 
for  man's  good.  And  whatever  we  find  and  experi- 
ence in  our  own  communion  Avith  God  through  Christ, 
may  have  been  found  and  known  not  only  by  saints 
before  our  time,  but  also  before  Christ's  coming.  In 
some  instances  it  may  have  been  not  only  communi- 
cated by  the  Divine  Spirit  to  souls  seeking  after  God, 
but  inspired  also  in  minds  chosen  and  prepared  of 
God,  in  order  to  be  recorded  by  such  souls,  for  all  fol- 
lowing generations.  Such  were  the  ministrations  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  Job  in  the  depths  of  his  distresses,  in 
the  disclosure  of  the  Redeemer,  "I  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth." 

That  was,  as  it  were,  the  highest  rung  in  the  ladder 
of  Jacob's  dream  rising  from  earth  to  heaven.  To 
most  men  the  step  where  it  enters  heaven  and  is  fas- 
tened to  that  AVithin  the  vail,  is  unseen;  but  if  it  has 


XXX 


Liti'odudion. 


ever  been  seen  hij  any  one  in  Hohj  Writ,  and  the  Tision 
recorded,  it  may  be  seen  by  us,  by  inspiration  of  the 
same  faith.  And  we  are  permitted  to  accept,  as  fi'om 
the  Divine  Spirit,  the  highest  spiritual  interpretation 
that  our  personal  hopes  and  aspirations  can  jDut  upon 
it,  as  a  revelation  intended,  not  for  Job  and  his  com- 
pany onl}',  but  for  all  mankind. 

The  nineteenth  chapter  of  Job,  as  well  as  the  23d 
and  51st  Psalms,  and  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
and  the  fifteenth  of  I  Corinthians,  are  every  one  the 
heir-looms  of  a  believing  immortaUty  in  man.  Every 
man  living  may  apply  them  fi-eely  if  he  will.  "What 
Cowper  said  of  himself  may  be  said  b}'  all. 

"But  God  has  breathed  upon  a  worm, 

And  sent  me  from  above, 
Wings  such  as  clothe  au  angel's  form, 

The  wings  of  joy  and  love. 
With  these  to  Pisgah's  top  I  fly, 

And  there  delighted  stand. 
To  view,  beneath  a  shining  sky, 

The  spacious  promised  land. 
The  Lord  of  all  the  vast  domain 

Has  promised  it  to  me; — 
The  length  and  breadth  of  all  the  plain. 

As  far  as  faith  can  see." 

The  whole  Bible,  all  its  promises,  as  all  its  warnings, 
are  the  inheritance  of  saints  in  lig'ht,  encompassing  the 
soul  with  all  the  safe-guards  both  of  hope  and  fear. 

Christ  not  only  by  His  death  fulfilled  the  history  and 
prophecies  of  the  Jewish  nation,  but  by  His  life  demon- 
strated all  those  vast  ideas  of  immortality,  faith,  prayer, 
providence,  never  known  in  any  example  on  earth,  till 


Introduction. 


XXXI 


the  dhnne  Hebrew  revelation  of  them  from  God,  for 
the  whole  world's  guidance;  never  acted  out  except  by 
inspired  heroes  portrayed  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures; 
never  traced  or  analyzed  or  taught  in  any  other  litera- 
ture or  experience  of  men  outside  those  Scrijitures. 

"  Not  by  bread  alone,  but  by  eveiy  word  that  pro- 
ceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God  shall  man  live." 
"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  mind,  soul,  and  strength,  and  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself."  The  human  mind  can  conceive  no  more  per- 
fect concentration  of  holiness  and  happiness  than  is 
contained  in  this  law;  no  more  absolute  expression  of 
infinite  benevolence  in  the  Lawgiver. 

In  the  divine  history,  the  love  and  mercy  of  God  in 
His  covenant  with  Abraham  were  the  ground  both  of 
the  law  on  Sinai  and  the  successive  atoning  sacrifices. 
The  i^riesthood  and  the  sacrificial  and  ceremonial  law 
and  system  were  first  and  most  important,  while  the 
law  was  but  the  servant  of  God's  hohness  to  convince 
the  soul  of  sin.  The  priest,  the  altar,  and  the  sacrifice 
presented  the  wa}'  of  forgiveness  and  the  offer  of  life 
in  God's  believed  and  trusted  mercy,  and  so  the  law 
was  the  apjDointed  school-master,  to  bring  sinners  to 
the  mercy-seat  in  prayer. 

By  the  action  of  their  souls  in  coming  to  that  mercy- 
seat  were  the  true  seekers  after  God  in  the  history  of 
Israel  tested.  And  now,  the  true  seeker  is  he  who  fol- 
lows out  the  truth  of  God's  mercy  in  Christ.  Seekers 
after  God  seek  truth  in  God's  light,  not  man's.  But 
seekers  after  truth,  regardless  of  consequences,  God 
or  no  God,  set  up  a  standard  of  independence,  which 


xxxu 


Introduction. 


can  not  consist  with  our  nature   as  dependent  and 
trusting  children  of  a  heavenly  Father. 

The  history  of  the  Jews  is  a  compassionate,  continu- 
ous, providential  miracle,  just  as  profoundly  conserva- 
tive, and  illustrative,  as  any  rock-discoveries  by  %Yhich 
we  demousti'ate  the  history  of  epochs  on  the  globe. 
The  preservation  of  that  history,  in  such  undisputed 
accuracy,  is  unexampled,  being  maintained  by  a  most 
wonderful  combination  of  evidence,  so  intenvoven  with 
all  that  we  are  most  absolutely  certain  of,  and  most 
earnestly  desu'ous  of  jireserving,  maintained  provi- 
dentially by  the  concentration  of  such  hgiits  from  the 
whole  world's  enmity;  such  interferences  and  vio- 
lences from  all  nations,  attempting  to  destroy  the 
Jews  themselves  out  of  existence. 

There  is  not  another  nation  or  family  on  earth  whose 
connections  we  can  trace  back,  so  accurately  and  so  far; 
can  trace  them  by  the  hghts  of  predictions  concerning 
them,  and  cross  trains  of  history  colliding  with  them; 
trace  them  by  ruins  of  empix'es  and  cities  immortalized 
in  our  knowledge  mainly  by  their  treatment  of  them ; 
trace  them  through  murderous  persecutions  and  bar- 
barous laws  and  religious  fanaticisms  from  generation 
to  generation,  consecrating  their  destruction  and  the 
hatred  of  them  as  an  act  of  piety  to  God;  trace  them 
by  their  own  suicidal  curse  at  the  crucifixion  cleaving 
to  them:  "His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our  children"; 
trace  them  by  that  curse  fulfilled  through  all  nations, 
and  yet  their  equally  mu-aculous  preservation  beneath 
the  bearing  of  its  burden,  that  they  may  go  about  with 
it  until  it  be  removed;  trace  them  back  to  Christ,  Him- 


Introductio7i.  xxxiii 


self  a  Jew;  back  to  Abraham,  he  and  they  the  descend- 
ants of  Abraham,  the  beginning  of  the  circumcised  race, 
separated  from  all  the  nations  as  God's  chosen  family; 
traced  further  back  than  any  race  of  mankind  can  be 
followed,  with  monuments  all  the  Avay  up  to  the  cities 
of  Sodom  and  Damascus;  traced  b}'  undisputed  pre- 
dictions of  designed  and  long  continued  providences 
and  disciplinary  measiires,  from  God  as  their  Father; 
such  predictions  as  those  in  Amos,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
up  to  this  day  and  hour  being  fulfilled  in  the  sight  of 
all  nations. 

God  educates  the  human  race  by  books,  legislates 
by  books,  makes  men  learn  for  life  or  death  by  books; 
and  the  appeal  of  the  Son  of  God  Himself  for  justi- 
fication and  certainty,  putting  an  end  to  aU  strife,  and 
sending  doubt  out  of  court,  is  just  this.  It  is  wkittex. 
But  what  is  written  is  accompanied  now  by  what  is  en- 
graven in  the  rocks,  and  most  surely  known  and  ac- 
knowledged among  men  as  absolute,  indisputable  cer- 
tainties. So  that  to-day,  science  and  history  are  only 
bell-ringers  of  the  chimes  that  God  set  i;p  six  thou- 
sand years  ago. 

The  history  of  the  Jews  is  a  running  batteiy  of  God's 
words  and  mii'acles;  and  their  existence  to-day  is  a 
visible  miracle,  as  clearly  the  counterj^art  and  seal  of 
the  recorded  miracles,  and  the  work  of  the  same  God, 
as  the  correlation  between  light  and  the  eye,  Hghtning 
and  thunder,  the  pointers  and  the  north  star.  What 
God  has  done,  is  doing,  and  has  promised  to  do,  with 
the  Jews,  can  no  more  be  doubted  or  disregarded  in 
our  naviijation  as  men  and  nations  across  the  sea  of 


xxxiv  Introduction. 


destiny,  than  wliat  the  heavens  are  telling  can  be  ti'i- 
flecl  with  in  the  sailing  of  a  fleet  of  ships,  soul-freighted, 
round  the  globe.  And  so  God's  education  of  all  na- 
tions proceeds  from  the  unerring  chart-rficords  of  Hu 
vast  celestial  transactions  with  one  representaiiDe  nation.  The 
choice  now,  of  God  or  Baal,  and  its  everlasting  conse- 
quences, are  set  before  all  nations,  as  distinctly  as  ever 
b}'  Joshua  fifteen  hundred  years  before  Christ,  or  by 
Elijah  nine  hundred,  but  with  tenfold  assurance  of  the 
inevitable  jjenalties  waiting  the  eternal  demonstration. 

And  now  we  seem  to  be  entering  on  an  experiment 
whether  society,  all  these  advantages  from  experience 
of  the  gospel  being  given,  and  all  these  facilities  for 
its  spread,  may  not  get  on  without  them,  or  by  science 
alone  in  tlie  neglect  of  them ;  rejecting  their  providen- 
tial aid,  as  requiring  a  belief  in  God  and  Christianity, 
or  the  adoption  and  teaching  of  an  opinion  of  respon- 
sibility to  God,  which  the  State,  under  God  or  nature, 
has  no  right  to  assume.  And  what  a  dilemma  is  this ! 
Compelled  by  the  average  of  reason  for  six  thousand 
years,  to  assume  a  God,  but  denying  the  authority  to 
teach  those  behefs  in  Him,  which  are  the  sanction  of 
laws,  the  sti-ength  of  conscience,  and  the  only  sujoport 
and  justification  of  the  State  in  enforcing  its  own  stat- 
utes. Certainly,  the  jjurpose  of  education  is  to  make 
out  of  the  child  for  the  man,  and  out  of  the  man  for 
the  world,  on  which  his  active  i>owers  and  passions  are 
to  operate,  all  that  he  can  become,  of  goodness  and 
usefulness  and  consequent  happiness,  possessed  and 
imparted. 

But  if  the  tendency  of  science  to  exclude  a  behef 


Introduction 


XXXV 


in  God  advances  with  the  popularization  of  knowledge, 
and  is  fostered  in  its  very  pnmers,  then  the  child  will 
one  day  master  Laplace,  and  shall  be  a  hundred  years 
old  in  the  power  of  the  habit  of  scepticism,  before  he 
is  permitted  to  examine  the  idea  of  God  in  a  divine 
revelation.  As  the  extent  of  the  universe  is  demonstra- 
ted to  the  3*outhful  mind,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
omnipresent  love  and  providence  of  God  are  forbid- 
den to  be  taught  in  any  primary  school  of  morals,  what 
balance  can  there  be  against  the  gloom  of  infinite  space, 
and  the  power  of  sui^erstition  ?  For  the  imagination 
will  create  its  own  demons,  if  not  taught  to  trust  in  a 
"benevolent  God,  and  to  tiee  for  refuge  to  the  bosom 
of  His  love,  the  secui'ity  of  His  being. 

What  mankind  thus  far  have  seen  and  understood 
is  this :  namely,  from  Adam  to  Moses,  about  two  thou- 
sand years,  the  principles  of  divine  law,  known  by  con- 
science, but  disregarded  (see  Eom.  i.  18-23),  and  the 
world's  habit  towards  its  Maker  formed  out  of  such 
disregard.  Then  from  Moses  to  Christ,  two  thousand 
more,  with  the  law  wuittex  out,  as  a  schoolmaster,  and 
with  exi^erience  of  the  character  and  consequences  of 
a  violation  and  perversion  of  the  same.  Then  from 
Christ  ouAvards  two  thousand  more,  iviilh  knowledrje  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  character  consequent  on  the  perversion 
of  that;  including  three  hundred  years  of  partial  re- 
covery fi-om  such  perversion,  with  accumulated  knowl- 
edge of  its  experimental  power,  and  great  advancement 
in  science  under  its  light. 

Now,  if  it  would  take  thousands  of  years  to  j^repare 
the  materials  of  such  an  education  of  salvation  for  the 


x  X  X  \-  i  Introduction . 


race,  and  a  generation  of  men  fit  in  all  things  to  be  its 
teachers,  experts  in  its  knowledge  and  power,  these  six 
thousand  years  may  faii'h^  be  considered  as  but  the 
threshold  of  an  entrance  of  humanity,  with  all  these 
divine  advantages,  upon  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
thousand;  multiplying  each  one  of  man's  days  of  watch- 
ing, receiving,  and  sowing,  by  a  thousand  of  God's  years 
of  harvesting  in  Christ's  kingdom.  If  there  were  such 
a  computation  of  time  by  days  in  the  creation  even  of 
the  school-house  for  man's  infancy,  how  much  more  in 
the  vast  increasing  work  of  redemption  for  man's  ma- 
jority and  heaven? 

And  hence  the  requisite  elements  of  vastness  and  cer- 
tainty in  the  structure  of  a  divine  revelation  for  such  a 
succession  of  cycles  and  generations,  extending  into 
eternity.  For  we  are  manifestly  only  at  the  gateway, 
as  of  infancy,  before  a  development  of  divine  mercy 
and  human  activity  that  no  imagination  can  fathom. 

And  the  first  thing  to  be  noted  is  the  ceiiainfij  of  all 
(7o(f 8  appmJn  addressed  to  reason,  faith,  and  knowl- 
edge, excluding  all  grounds  of  doubt  as  to  God,  and 
the  truth  and  sincerity  of  His  calls  and  warnings, 
whatever  there  may  be  of  difficulty  or  of  incompre- 
hensibility. It  is  not  a  blind  faith,  but  the  most  self- 
possessed  and  clearest  vision  of  the  mind  that  the  argu- 
ment of  God  addresses,  with  the  command  to  search 
and  secure  its  Avhole  meaning  as  for  our  life. 

What  infinite  destructive  malevolence  in  that  form 
of  philosophy,  which  gives  the  lie  to  all  these  demon- 
strations of  a  system  of  creative  and  i)rovidential  good- 
ness and  mercy,  by  the  Author  of  our  being,  and  of 


Introduction. 


xxxvii 


all  the  arrangements  of  nature  \>\  wliich  we  are  pre- 
served and  disciplined  for  another  and  a  perfect  ex- 
istence of  adoring-  love  !  But  above  all,  to  think  of 
reproducing  a  philosophy  of  Nature,  that,  nineteen 
hundred  years  after  the  Lord  of  nature  and  of  grace 
has  become  incarnate  for  our  redemption,  seeks  to 
carry  us  back  to  the  blindness  and  darkness  of  pagan- 
ism, and  by  practical  atheism  under  the  name  of  evo- 
lution, would  drive  God  and  })rayer  out  of  men's  hearts, 
and  if  j^ossible  out  of  the  world.  A  philosophy  that 
sets  up  Natvu'al  Selection  as  the  deity  of  force  behind 
all  elements,  with  the  postulate  of  the  impossibility  of 
the  God  of  the  Scrijjtures  ever  creating  any  thing  by 
His  Word,  or  ever  spontaneously  interposing  in  the 
government  of  the  world  in  answer  to  j)rayer !  A  phi- 
losoj^hy  that  would  carry  all  beings  through  the  world 
without  acknowledgment  of  God,  and  out  of  the  world 
with  a  character  of  distrust  and  denial,  that  self-ban- 
ishes the  soul  fi'om  the  presence  and  worship  of  God 
for  ever.  A  philosophy  that  receives  nothing  from 
God,  thanks  God  for  nothing,  expects  nothing  from 
Him,  and  is  the  very  perfection  of  the  creed  of  the  fool 
even  under  the  light  of  the  Cross, — No  God,  no  Sa- 
viour, no  need  of  Him,  prayer  a  superstition,  death  an 
eternal  sleep ! 

The  book  of  Isaiah  alone,  read  understandingly  in 
the  schools  would  be  discipline  enough,  literature 
enough,  science  enough,  for  the  building  of  an  in- 
destructible empire  inspiring  an  unconquerable  pa- 
triotism, a  coniidence  in  realities,  a  contempt  of  shams, 
a  detestation  of  pride  and  hypocrisy,  a  transparency 


xxxviii  hitroductio7i. 


and  purity  before  God,  coui-age  iu  danger,  patience  in 
adversity,  all  the  qualities  needed  in  such  a  world  as 
this.  But  God  has  pre2)ared  and  bestows,  by  the 
working  of  divine  thought  and  providence  through 
three  thousand  years,  the  gift  of  a  whole  library  of 
such  books,  with  the  Hoi}-  Spnit  as  Librarian,  cove- 
nanted to  attend  every  book  into  the  soul,  as  its  Divine 
Interpreter;  God  Himself  communing  with  each  reader 
just  as  separately  and  attentively  as  if  there  had  been 
but  one  soul  in  the  universe  that  could  read.  A  library 
intended  for  all  nations,  and  speaking  to  the  whole 
earth  to  hear  the  Word  of  the  Lord. 

And  God  shows  in  the  history  of  the  Jewish  j^eople, 
individually  and  with  personal  providence  and  disci- 
]Dline,  not  only  how  a  soul  is  born  of  God,  and  kept 
and  trained  for  its  immortal  heritage,  but  how  a  na- 
tion is  born  and  educated,  through  God's  choice  and 
care  of  its  j^atriarchs,  prophets,  and  warriors;  through 
the  power  of  a  divine  covenant  committed  to  a  whole 
peoj^le,  for  vigilance  over  their  own  rulers,  according 
to  the  divine  letter  which  all  possess,  and  which  all 
must  teach,  generation  after  generation,  to  their  chil- 
dren; demonstrating  that  a  nation  has  a  soul,  and  a 
continuity  and  unit}'  of  life  and  responsibility  to  God, 
imperishable;  an  obligation  of  the  keei)ing  and  teach- 
ing of  divine  truth,  once  made  known;  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day,  and  for  ever,  and  making  the  nation 
the  same,  through  all  changes;  demonstrating,  through 
the  immutabilit}'  and  constancy  of  the  divine  covenant, 
how  to  rest  .on  God  out  of  ruin  and  despair,  how 
to  return  to  God  and  a  new  life  in  Hun,  when  torn 
fi'om  Him  by  theii'  OAvn  angry  jDassions. 


Introdzution. 


XX  XIX 


Covenanters  aU,  with  a  merciful,  forgiving  Father, 
who  had  given  them  not  only  the  book  of  the  law 
with  all  its  shuttings  up  and  openings  in  statutes,  judg- 
ments, types,  ceremonies,  of  eternal  and  prophetic 
lights,  but  instructions  for  behavior  and  escape  out  of 
their  own  foreseen  and  forewarned  rebellions,  and 
breakings  of  the  covenant;  the  hurricane  itself  fore- 
told and  provided  for,  lifeboats  to  flee  to,  and  the 
methods  of  their  use,  taught  them  ages  before  the 
storm;  and  besides  all  this,  the  principles  of  the  cov- 
enant, and  of  God's  discipline,  concentrated  in  a  song 
to  be  committed  to  memory,  as  an  indwelling  angel 
bearing  them,  or  flame  of  insjiiration  whirling  them; 
all  the  tribes  and  synagogues  receiving,  as  by  law 
they  break  into  separate  orbs  in  their  appointed  in- 
heritance, the  same  impulse  and  hfe  of  motion  on  their 
axis  and  in  their  orbits;  and  five  hundred  years  later, 
after  profound  and  costly  experience  of  God's  faith- 
fulness and  their  own  weakness  and  guilt,  the  same 
covenant  and  constitution  renewed  in  the  sublimest 
form  of  pra^'er  in  that  Temple  of  the  Mercy-seat,  made 
for  all  nations; — a  prayer  and  covenant  to  which  the 
whole  earth  was  party,  teaching  all  mankind  their  sin 
and  misery,  and  the  way  out  of  it  in  God's  mercy. 

It  is  the  examj)le  of  a  people,  dismasted,  ship- 
wrecked, yet  holding  in  all  gales  and  tempests  to  the 
life  lines  of  prayer  and  the  promises  of  God.  Oh 
Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in  Me  is  thy 
help  !  Taught  purity  of  faith  and  worshij)  in  the  very 
crucibles  of  idolatry,  in  the  anguish  of  inward  remorse 
and  outward  tire;  rebuilding  the  walls  of  their  cajiital 
city,  after  centuries  of  dispersion  and  retributive  ruin, 


xl  Introduction. 


amidst  enemies  so  thick  and  murderous,  that  the  spear 
must  act  in  one  hand  and  the  trowel  in  the  other; 
laborers  and  Avarriors  united,  all  to  return  as  they 
came,  obedient  to  God,  with  the  arts  of  edification 
and  defence,  the  discipline  of  self-reliance  and  depend- 
ence on  God,  going  on  together.  The  example  of  a 
people,  whose  nobles  are  at  once  from  God  and  from 
themselves,  whose  genealogj'  is  divine,  whose  educa- 
tion is  the  brooding  of  their  conscious  immortality  di- 
recting them  to  eternal  life  in  Christ,  the  coming  King 
of  Glory;  w^hose  faith  in  God  made  every  family  an 
independent  princely  cii'cle,  out  of  which  might  come 
the  looked  for  Messiah  and  Prince  of  Life;  and 
whose  same  faith,  corrected  and  renewed  when  the 
veil  is  taken  away  by  the  heart  turning  to  the  Lord, 
shall  still  hold  every  family  in  an  eternal  union  with 
Him;  an  assurance  by  which  the  whole  world  is  still 
held,  through  them,  till  the  time  come,  when  every 
knee  shall  bow  to  Jesus,  and  every  tongue  confess  to 
God. 

God's  university  for  truth  is  an  arrangement  of 
power  and  means  for  the  i^pread  of  truth;  and  now, 
after  six  thousand  years'  instruction  and  expeVience  of 
the  world  in  the  common  school  and  academy  of  God's 
disciphne,  what  is  needed  is  the  use  of  all  these  knoAvl- 
edges,  until  the  i^pirlt  of  habitual  faith,  by  the  liost  of 
graduates  so  prepared  to  be  God's  instruments  in  the 
world's  new  creation.  For  the  field  is  the  world,  and 
the  process  thus  far  has  been  the  survey  of  the  world, 
and  God's  preparation  of  seeds,  sowers,  and  reapers. 
Olu'  own  century,  just  now  coming  to  its  close,  has 


Lttrodtccfion .  x  1  i 


been  wonderfully  marked  by  tlie  seizures  and  har- 
nessings  of  invisible  elements,  that  were  waiting  in 
God's  market  place  to  be  hired;  steam  power,  rail- 
roads, telegraphs,  penny  postages,  submarine  cables, 
printing-i:)resses  from  the  very  thought,  almost  as 
swift  of  action  as  electric  force,  and  multiplying  vol- 
umes as  the  motions  of  light;  day  and  Sabbath  schools, 
newspapers,  sciences,  jnimers,  and  catechisms,  Bibles 
translated  into  all  languages,  carried  free  to  all  races; 
rapid  transits  all  over  the  Avorld,  and  nations  brought 
together;  gatherings  of  all  tribes  at  new  Jerusalems, 
waiting  for  new  Peutecosts;  London,  containing  more 
Jews  than  all  Palestine,  more  lloman  Catholics  than 
Rome ;  New  York,  containing  more  Germans  than  Ber- 
lin; and  a  concurrence  of  Parthians  and  Modes,  Chi- 
nese, Cretes,  Ai'abians,  Africans,  ready  to  hear  and  to 
speak  in  their  own  tongues  the  wonderfid  works  of 
God. 

And  the  object  now  of  increasing  ovir  faith  by  sci- 
ence is  just  to  teach  a  surer  foresight  b^-  faith,  which 
is  the  eye  of  science,  as  conscience  towards  God  is  of 
the  soul;  faith  of  a  world  to  come,  and  of  what  we  are 
to  meet  there,  and  how  we  are  to  be  prepared  for  it. 
The  experience  of  what  we  pass  through  here  was  cer- 
tainly meant  to  be  set  as  lights  at  the  masthead  and 
the  bowsprit,  Hashing  on  the  path  before  us.  Tlie 
operation  of  laws,  principles,  elements,  in  our  physical 
and  mental  being,  with  consciousness  as  the  unmis- 
takable witness,  is  to  teach  us  to  jarepare  for  that 
world,  into  Avhich  we  shall  graduate  from  this.  There 
certainly  is  no  other  possible  explanation  of  the  kind 
of  discipline,  through  which  we  are  now  passing. 


xlii  Litroduction. 


"Well,  some  may  say,  Men  do  not  reason  in  that  way. 
But  God  reasons  for  them,  and  by  His  word  rules  in 
them,  and  holds  them,  whether  they  will  or  no ;  so  that 
even  blind  men  walk  in,  under,  and  by  this  divine 
light,  as  a  man  goes  east  by  the  motion  of  God's  orbs, 
even  while  he  is  walking  west,  or  vice  versa,  hj  his 
own  muscles. 

For  this  volume,  this  library,  is  beyond  all  question, 
the  great  repository'  of  God's  educating  powers.  His 
Spirit  being  bound  with  it,  and  acting  by  it.  It  took 
such  a  nation,  and  the  noblest  inspired  souls  in  it, 
through  a  growi:h  of  thousands  of  years,  to  perfect 
this  library,  not  finished,  till  He  said,  from  the  cross, 
It  is  finished  !  and  then  not  till  His  words  from  the 
thi'one  of  eternity  were  uttered,  "I  am  Aljiha  and 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  first  and  the 
last,  and  what  thou  seest  write  in  a  book,  and  send  it 
TO  the  churches."  When  finished,  He  threw  the  whole 
into  the  alembic  of  time,  and  the  crucible  of  man's 
furious  passions,  to  demonstrate  and  test  it,  by  aU 
the  methods  and  concentrations  of  angry  criticism, 
and  all  the  triumphs  of  a  believing  experience. 

The  design  of  this  volume, — this  library  so  con- 
structed, and  thrown  through  the  world, — is  just  sim- 
ply this:  a  presentation  to  the  human  soul  of  that 
image  and  essence  of  infinite  goodness,  love,  mercy, 
truth,  i:)Ower,  wisdom,  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
manifest  in  Christ,  for  the  soul's  own  participation  in 
the  divine  nature,  that  we  might  be  complete  in  Him. 

And  it  is  as  absurd  to  suppose  that  men  can  keep 
and  obey  this  word  as  individuals,  while  the  nation  that 
they  constitute  rejects  it,  and  forbids  its  teaching,  as 


Introduction.  xliii 


that  men  can  walk  the  surface  of  this  globe,  without 
at  the  same  time  the  earth,  and  they  themselves  with 
it,  going  round  the  sun. 

Now  Avlien  this  infinite  work  is  finished;  i^rineij^les, 
laws,  institutions,  examples,  teachings,  warnings,  prov- 
idences, miracles,  experiences  of  reward  and  retribu- 
tion for  good  and  evil,  and  of  the  inherent  power  of 
both  good  and  evil  to  create  and  perpetuate  such  ex- 
perience, individual  and  national;  both  God  and  man 
revealed  in  history,  and  history  illumined  by  God; 
man  not  left  to  take  God  at  His  word  merely,  of  what 
would  happen,  but  with  the  knowledge  of  what  has 
happened;  so  that  the  i:)redictions  and  the  experience 
are  at  once  before  us  in  the  same  pages,  and  the 
remedy  for  aU  evil  in  a  j^resent  salvation  equally  dem- 
onstrated, and  the  exact  conditions  and  method  for 
men's  availing  themselves  of  it; — when  all  this  work  is 
finished,  and  an  exjjerience  of  ages  is  added,  demon- 
strating its  truth  and  power,  even  up  to  the  conversion 
and  new  life  of  nations,  the  resurrection  of  the  moral 
dead;  when  earth  has  been  subdued  b}'  science  and  in- 
dustry, just  as  commanded  of  God  in  the  beginning 
when  He  said,  " RepknUh  Ihe  earth,  and  have  dominion 
over  it;"  when  men  have  run  to  and  fro  from  pole  to 
pole,  and  knowledges  and  teachers  have  been  increased 
by  ship-loads,  and  ships  by  fleets,  and  the  wealth  of  the 
world  by  whole  mines  minted,  and  of  God's  Church 
itself,  by  the  ver^'  action  of  their  principles  of  fidelity 
to  God  and  man  making  them  commercial  as  well  as 
spiritual  sovereigns,  a  royal  priesthood,  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, for  the  publication  of  Gods  praises,  and  the  doing 


xliv  IntrodiLction. 


of  His  work,  b}"  the  enshrined  omnipotence  of  His  word ; 
then,  at  this  very  point  the  position  is  attemj^ted,  that 
the  use  of  the  word  of  God,  in  the  education  of  the 
conscience,  and  the  introduction  of  the  soul  to  Christ, 
is  contrarij  to  the  freedom  of  the  con.^cience,  and  the  neces- 
sary indifference  and  sovereignty  of  the  State. 

What  is  this,  but  the  okt  j)redicted  phenomenon  of 
an  arrogated  human  infaUibihty  setting  itself  in  the 
j)lace  of  Grod,  and  by  assumed  authority  over  His  word 
dethroning  God  Himself  from  the  conscience,  in  for- 
bidding that  word  to  be  studied  and  obeyed.  Take 
away  the  jDortrait  of  Christ,  is  the  voice  of  modern  sec- 
ularism and  the  method  of  political  blindness.  Take 
away  this  divine  presentment  from  the  schools,  from 
the  vision  of  the  mind;  let  no  child's  attention  be  called 
to  it,  no  note  be  taken  of  it;  let  a  cloud  dwell  upon  it; 
let  it  never  be  set  among  the  models  of  character  or 
the  powers  of  instniction.  It  realizes  the  description 
given  by  Paul  of  the  method  of  disciiDline  by  the  god 
of  this  world  blinding  the  minds  of  those  that  believe 
not,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious  gosj^el  of  Christ,  who 
is  the  image  of  God  should  shine  into  their  hearts. 

When  the  new  creating  Photographer  has  given  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ,  given  the  means  and  elements  for  the 
vision  of  Christ  in  His  infinite  beauty,  attractiveness 
and  merciful  love  to  our  souls,  so  that  we  may  look  to 
Him  and  be  saved;  and  when  all  things  are  ready  for 
the  children  of  the  whole  world,  to  receive  His  like- 
ness into  the  depths  of  their  being,  by  beholding  Him, 
there  comes  between  the  child's  face  and  the  Saviour's, 


V 


Introduction.  xlv 


by  the  adroit  manipulations  of  a  power  behind  the 
scenes,  the  awful  shadow  of  gloom  and  doubt,  the  car- 
icature of  imposture  stealing  across  the  camera,  for  the 
children  to  receive  an  indelible  impression  from  that, 
instead  of  the  imj)rint  of  His  love  who  said,  "  Suffer  the 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not." 
Are  we  bound  meekly  to  submit  to  such  an  opera- 
tion, on  the  plea  that  the  State  can  not  recognize  re- 
ligious teaching  ?  Or  is  it  to  be  regarded  in  us  as  in- 
tolerance and  oppression  of  Uberal  consciences,  if  we 
will  not  receive  the  scientific  method,  but  insist  uj)ou 
our  right  to  the  freedom  of  spiritual  truth  ?  It  is  a 
fraud  uj^on  humanity,  the  embezzlement  and  seques- 
tration of  an  inheritance  of  knowledge  and  life  belong- 
ing to  our  children,  if  Christ  is  called  sectarian;  if 
either  science  or  sectarianism  or  both  united,  are  per- 
mitted to  exclude  the  knowledge  of  Christ  from  the 
children's  studies,  from  history,  from  their  schools. 
The  voice  of  God's  retributive  justice  in  kind  will  be 
this.  Because  thou  hast  forgotten  my  law,  I  also  wiU 
forget  thy  children.  The  wisdom  of  your  wise  men 
shall  perish,  and  the  understanding  of  your  prudent 
men  shall  be  hid.  "In  the  tragedies  of  Soj^hocles," 
said  Carlyle,  speaking  to  the  students  in  Edinburgh, 
"  In  the  tragedies  of  Sophocles,  there  is  a  most  dis- 
tinct recognition  of  the  eternal  justice  of  Heaveu,and 
the  unfailing  punishment  of  crime  against  the  laws  of 
God.  I  believe  you  will  find  in  all  histories  that  that 
has  been  at  the  head  and  foundation  of  them  all;  and 
that  no  nation  that  did  not  contemplate  this  wonder- 
fvd  universe  with  an  awe-stricken  and  reverential  feel- 
ing that  there  was  a  great  unknown,  omnipotent,  and 


xhi  Introduction. 


all-wise,  and  all-virtuous  Being,  superintending  all 
men  in  it,  and  all  interests  in  it — no  nation  ever  came 
to  very  much,  nor  did  any  man  either,  who  forgot  that. 
If  a  man  did  forget  that,  he  forgot  the  most  important 
jiart  of  his  mission  in  this  world." 

Now  of  what  benefit  for  us  are  all  histories  of  the 
past,  but  as  prisms  and  spectroscopes  through  which 
we  may  see  the  light  of  the  divine  attributes,  reveal- 
ing and  proj)hesying  the  nature  and  laws  of  the  world 
to  which  we  are  advancing  ? 

Of  all  this  we  are  warned,  and  for  all  this  the  word 
of  Clod  is  an  accumulation  of  warnings  and  fulfilments, 
as  well  as  promises,  from  generation  to  generation. 

What  is  a  proverb '?  It  is  first,  a  pro-dud  of  im- 
mortality', produco,  a  guardian  of  man's  sjiirit  for  eter- 
nity. It  is  a  word  before,  provcrbum,  a  word  of  warn- 
ing, and  a  divine  magnet,  a  word  of  prepossession,  for 
instruction  of  the  soul. 

The  Hebrew  proverbs  are  the  compasses  and  quad- 
rants of  mankind.  They  are  the  gift  of  God  through 
the  working  of  His  Spirit,  His  truth  and  men's  experi- 
ence together  establishing  an  irresistible  demonstra- 
tion. They  are  not  the  work  of  single  original  minds, 
but  distilled  through  the  mind  and  experience  of  the 
common  j^eople  tlu'ough  many  generations.  At  length 
some  penetrating  inductive  genius,  some  Solomon,  or 
Bacon,  or  Shakspeare,  gathers  them,  gives  them  a  rec- 
oi-d  out  of  tradition,  a  rescue  from  the  quartz,  and  sets 
them  as  jewels,  diamonds,  apjiles  of  gold  in  baskets  of 
silver.  Proverbs  show  the  action  of  centuries  of  social 
and  individual  life,  and  the  experience  of  men's  discov- 
ered natures,  and  tjie  inveterate  action  and  I'eaction  of 


\ 


Introduction,  xlvii 


l^rinciples,  motives,  habits,  prejudices:  the  knowledge 
of  which  becomes  at  length  the  wisdom  of  a  state  undei' 
God's  government.  But  the  proverbs  of  all  nations 
may  be  compared  together,  and  none  of  them  show 
the  air  of  heaven  and  immortality  except  those  of  the 
Jews  in  their  Hebrew  Scriptures. 

Accumulation,  expansion,  and  deeper  depths  of 
knowledge  therefore,  generation  after  generation,  from 
prophet  to  prophet,  by  the  Divine  Spirit  that  gave 
it; — these  are  the  methods  of  divine  science.  God 
chooses  the  messengers,  prepares  and  disciplines  the 
experts,  the  conductors,  the  torch-bearers,  and  lets 
them  all  color  the  products  of  their  own  departments 
with  the  originalities,  the  varieties,  of  their  own  behev- 
ing  souls.  The  result  is  a  mj-riad-lighted  and  rever- 
berated certainty. 

And  we  are  not  only  at  hbei*ty,  but  our  only  light 
rule  in  reading  is  to  get  all  that  we  can  get  out  of  the 
Bible,  and  not  as  little  as  we  can. 

AVe  therefore  charge  against  some  of  our  modern 
scientijSc  teachera  that  they  enthrone  a  principle  in 
op2>osition  to  all  reason  and  truth,  when  they  gay  that 
"  scepticism  is  the  highest  of  duties,  and  that  the  scien- 
tific conscience  of  these  latter  days  consecrates  doubt 
in  a  high  j^lace  among  our  moral  obligations."  For 
science  and  the  senses  it  may,  and  if  there  be  no  con- 
science towards  God,  it  must;  but  not  if  the  soul  be- 
lieves in  God. 

We  have  also  this  chai'ge,  namely,  that  they  are  in- 
structing men  both  to  believe  and  to  doubt  on  insuffi- 
cient evidence,  i?utting  the  material  above  thw  moral, 
and  quantity  above  quahty;  two  of  the  gra\c3t  faults 


xlviii  Introduction. 


in  a  world  like  this,  where  God  has  jirovided  sufficient 
assurance  for  a  sj^iritual  faith,  relying  on  Him,  but 
where,  for  the  very  discipUne  of  virtue,  we  must  act  on 
probabilities. 

For,  prudens  qiioestio,  said  Lord  Bacon,  not  dubilatio, 
— wise  enquiry,  not  doubt,  is  half  the  battle. 

"And  sitting  by  the  wayside,  blind, 
He  is  the  nearest  to  the  light 
Who  crieth  out  most  earnestly, 
Lord,  that  I  may  receive  my  sight ! " 

"Mine  own  icith  usury "  is  the  infinitely  just  princi- 
ple in  God's  administration  over  men  as  His  stewards, 
whether  of  the  properties  of  matter  or  mind.  And  so, 
to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.  This  is  the  rule  of  a 
diA'ine  revelation.  It  was,  from  the  beginning,  an  in- 
creasing inheritance  in  God's  savings-bank  of  faith,  ac- 
cording to  the  beheving  receptivity  of  the  soul  towards 
God,  and  the  use  made  by  the  heart  and  in  the  Ufe,  of 
that  which  a  man  hath.  If  put  to  usury  for  God,  it 
grcAV  by  compound  interest,  till  the  possessor  became 
a  millionnaire.  This  plain  principle  of  interpretation 
is  as  a  north  star. 

All  this  throws  the  whole  race  of  mankind  entii'ely 
upon  God's  merciful  grace  and  jiower  for  every  good 
thing,  and  creates  a  witness  and  demand  within  the 
soul  for  prayer  to  God.  And  this  jirostration  of  the  race 
before  God,  in  guilt,  heljilessness,  and  hope,  making 
all  mankind  "prisonerti  of  Hojie"  not  victims  of  Desijair, 
is  a  grand  and  glorious  part  of  the  internal  evidence 
in  that  vast  divine  literature,  spread  over  four  thou- 
sand years,  through  sixty-six  books,  writteji  by  men  of 


hib^odudioii.  xlix 


all  eras  and  classes,  without  collusion  or  concert,  with 
the  same  presentation  everywhere  of  God  and  man, 
time  and  eternity,  life  and  immortality,  man's  guilt  and 
ruin,  and  God's  inexhaustible  love  and  mercy  in  Christ. 
The  very  existence  of  such  a  book  is  demonstration  of 
its  supernatural  origin.  What  other  seal  is  needed  ? 
Eternity  our  only  sphere,  God  our  only  life,  God  in 
Christ  our  only  means  of  attaining  it,  but  such  attain- 
ment, by  God's  gift,  the  design  and  work  of  God's  love, 
the  object  of  God's,  law,  providence,  revelation,  in  na- 
ture and  grace. 

The  ministration  of  all  this  historic  evidence,  this 
nnity  and  independence  of  forty  centuries,  appealing 
to  our  iuv/ard  consciousness  of  guilt  and  moral  death, 
demands,  at  the  same  time,  our  own  believing  appeal 
to  God's  mercy  in  persevering  prayer;  without  which 
habit  no  evidence  can  possibly  become  convincing  by 
experience;  no  knowledge  of  God,  or  of  spiritual  life, 
or  of  God's  own  truth,  except  by  those  inward  means 
of  grace,  described  in  Gods  word,  energized  by  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  without  the  use  of  which,  the  letter 
killeth,  and  "the  language  of  the  Scriptures,  in  the 
most  faithful  translation,  and  in  the  purest  and  plainest 
English,  must  nevertheless  continue  to  be  a  dead  lan- 
guage: a  sun-dial  by  moonlight."  This  is  the  testi- 
mony of  Coleridge  himself,  wrung  fi'om  his  own  expe- 
rience, and  removing  all  previous  doubt,  by  discovery 
of  his  own  spiritual  wants. 

The  very  fact  of  a  divine  revelation,  a  word  from 
God,  is  founded  on  the  condition  of  human  nature,  as 
being  so  depraved  as  to  need  regeneration  and  a  Sa- 
vioui'.     Deny  the  depravity  and  you  consistently  deny 


1  Introductioji. 


the  revelation,  and  these  two  thing-s  must  go  together. 
Denying  the  depravity,  you  deny  the  divine  Saviour, 
the  Regenerating  Spu'it,  the  eternal  death,  ever)-  thing 
that  must  make  up  revelation  if  a  revelation  were  neces- 
sary. So  that  the  revelation  left,  after  all  these  sweej)- 
ing  negations,  would  not  be  worth  the  trouble  of  giving, 
and  would  certainly  be  a  very  different  revelation  fi'om 
that  which  we  have  received. 

The  sjjiritual  dial  necessitates,  in  order  to  its  use,  a 
belief  in  God,  our  light,  our  life.  It  is  nothing  with- 
out Him;  we  make  it  a  mockery  of  over  own  being, 
without  consulting  Him.  For  law  and  lesson,  natural, 
historical,  divine,  are  providence  and  discipline,  aj>- 
pointed  and  administered  by  a  Lawgiver,  to  the  ends 
of  true  righteousness,  and  happmess.  All  law  teaches 
God,  and  is  a  revelation  of  and  from  Hun. 

Here  the  Hebrews  were  lifted  up,  hig-h  above  all 
other  nations,  into  the  breathing  of  an  atmosphere  of 
sph'itual  knowledge  and  experience,  that  entered  into 
their  life's  blood,  chculatiag  through  theu'  whole  sys- 
tem, political,  social,  religious.  In  this  atmosjDhere  the 
Hebrew  behevers  grew  and  worked;  and  the  eye,  the 
face,  the  intellect  of  the  nation,  the  character  and  com- 
j)lexion,  the  habits  of  thought^  feeling,  reasoning,  were 
enlivened  with  the  colors  of  health,  strength,  activity. 
God  dealt  with  them,  medicated  their  fi-ames,  educated, 
taught  them,  as  the  fabled  oriental  physician  did  his 
unwilling  patient,  by  the  handling  of  their  very  crutches, 
their  weapons,  their  instiaiments of  war*  and  agiiculture, 
their  landed  estates  and  enjoyments,  their  social  feasts 
and  pohtical  systems,  as  well  as  their  ritei^  of  worship. 


Introduction.  li 


The  Hebrews  were  not  at  any  time  wanting  in  na- 
tive genius,  out  of  whicli  might  have  sprung  poets  Hke 
Homer,  philosojohers  like  Plato.  Their  Apochryjjhal 
literature,  with  all  its  deficiencies  and  blots,  shows  this. 
It  contains  chapters  as  admirably  written,  as  profound 
in  thought,  as  true  in  philosophy,  as  the  pages  of  Plato. 
At  the  same  time  the  moment  we  step  out  fi'om  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  of  the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Psalms,  we  find  a  very  great  general  and  particular 
deterioration.  The  seal  of  a  manifest  divine  inspira- 
tion and  system  of  truth  is  not  there,  but  a  mixture  of 
fables,  and  a  reliance  on  human  merit,  and  morals, 
and  the  many  inventions  that  men  have  wrought  out 
for  smoothing  the  way  to  heaven. 

In  the  world's  common  literature  there  are  all  the 
elements  of  a  natural  fire;  wood,  coals,  smoke,  fiame, 
air,  heat,  light,  but  no  divine  inspiration.  In  the  He- 
brew hterature  there  is  God  and  man  together;  but 
over  and  above  all  human  elements,  the  infinite  breath- 
ing and  life  of  a  divine  force;  God  causing  the  wrath 
of  man  to  f>i'aise  Him;  a  perfect  holiness,  a  self-con- 
scious, self-existent  omniscience  and  omnipotence;  a 
knowledge  and  control  of  every  human  heai't  in  con- 
nection with  every  other  heart,  and  an  infinite  wisdom, 
and  eternally  benevolent  purpose  and  plan.  Here  is 
the  impress  of  a  governing  Creator  and  God,  but  no- 
where else  is  there  any  atmosphere  of  truth  that  im- 
mortality could  breathe. 

Now  if  there  be  a  mind  absolutely  destitute  of  faith 
in  God;  one  of  those  enormous  anomalies  described  in 
the  book  of  Deuteronomy  as  examples  of  the  possibility 
and  cause  of  all  evil  practices; — "children  in  whom  is  no 


lii  Introduction. 


faith; " — no,  not  even  in  the  truth,  love,  and  self-exist- 
ence of  their  Heavenly  Father;  to  such  a  mind  no 
revelation  of  sj^iritual  truth  is  possible. 

In  such  a  mind  there  could  be  no  belief  in  miracles, 
no  behef  in  prophecy,  no  belief  in  divine  inspiration. 
Any  prediction  proved  by  history  to  have  been  true 
would  be  rejected  as  certain!}^  written  after  the  event. 
And  this  would  be  one  of  the  accepted  canons  of  criti- 
cism, striking  death  through  all  the  reasonings  of  life 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  j^repossessing  the  mind,  at  the 
fountains  of  all  literature,  with  the  words  of  the  mur- 
derer and  liar  from  the  beginning.  But  our  Saviour 
said  to  the  Jews,  when  He  was  charging  them  with 
this  very  crime  of  rejecting  as  a  blasphemer  Him  whom 
God  hath  sanctified  and  sent  into  the  world,  "  He  that 
is  of  God  heareth  God's  words:  ye  therefore  hear  them 
not,  because  ye  are  not  of  God."  There  can  therefore 
be  no  uncertaint}^  as  to  what  are  the  words  of  God,  nor 
any  just  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  them,  for  by  them 
God  will  judge  the  world.     But  if  a 

"  Blind  unbelief  is  sure  to  err, 
Aud  scan  God's  work  in  vivin," 

how  much  more  a  cool  calculating  unbelief,  such  as  that 
of  profoundly  learned  scholars,  armed  with  a  logic  that 
sets  at  defiance  all  the  reasonings  of  Christ  from  God's 
word,  and  argues  against  them  from  postulates  that, 
according  to  Jolin's  declaration,  "make  God  a  liar." 

It  is  man's  word  testifying  against  -God's.  Such  is 
Ewald's  "  Histoiy  of  the  People  of  Israel  " ;  the  Divine 
Sun  shut  out,  and  God's  own  sun-dial  stiidied  by  the 
torch-light  of  human  unbelief  and  credulitv.     A  man 


Introduction.  \\\{ 


who  rejects  the  supernatural  iu  history,  and  denies  the 
possibiHty  of  proj^jhecy,  puts  himself  under  bonds  to 
pronounce  the  Bible  a  complicated  hypocrisy  and  false- 
hood, and  those  who  professed  to  have  been  inspired 
of  God  to  write  it  the  greatest  of  impostors.  This 
charge  includes  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  Christ,  and  the 
ai:)Ostles. 

The  force  of  this  argument  of  blasphemy  is  the 
greater,  by  the  infinitude  and  eternity  of  its  conse- 
quences. Inspiration  is  a  fact  forerunning  all  existing 
manuscripts,  and  securing,  out  of'  the  very  variations 
and  uncertainties  of  them,  the  certainties  of  Divine 
Foreknowledge  and  prophecy  for  manfi  guidance  hij 
urjrch,  according  to  which  Christ  Himself  has  declared 
that  God  \auL  judc4e  the  world.  Such  a  known  in- 
fallible inspiration  is  therefore  the  very  postulate  of 
Christ's  own  reasoning  as  the  world's  Saviour*;  even 
His  reasoning  with  the  Jews,  who  were  to  be  judged 
righteously  by  that  word  concerning  Christ,  which 
had  been  revealed  to  them  for  all  mankind. — Comjaare 
John  V.  38,  45-47,  and  viii.  44,  47,  and  xii.  48,  49,  50, 
with  Kom.  i.  25,  and  ii.  11,  12,  16,  and  iii.  4,  5,  6.  If 
not  infallible,  then  not  divine;  and  if  it  can  possibly  be 
broken,  then  not  of  God.  An  infallible  inspiration  is 
not  our  suppositioii  of  what  ought  to  he,  but  Chi-ist's  af- 
firmation of  what  mud  he,  and  is,  or  no  divine  Scriptures 
at  all.  Now  the  essential  element  of  inspiration,  that 
whit'h  belongs  to  the  very  possibility  of  a  divine  revel- 
ation, must  inevitably  determine  and  rule  the  method 
and  manner  of  it.  The  style,  the  words,  the  imagery, 
as  well  as  the  thoughts,  aU  things  indeed,  must  be  sub- 
servient, must  be  the  siu-e  ministers  and  builders  of 


liv  Introduction. 


the  tcmi)le  of  faith.  InfaUible  truths  could  not  be  put 
at  the  disiiosal  of  fallible  critics,  to  interweave  with  fa- 
bles so  contrived  that  every  generation  may  construct 
for  itself  a  justifying  argument  of  unbehef  and  blas- 
phemy. Infallible  truths  require  believing  and  inspired 
masters  of  the  language  in  which  they  are  conveyed. 

Internal  evidence,  extending  over  four  thousand  years 
and  appeahng  to  the  conscience  at  every  step,  is  om- 
nipotent. Once  perceived  in  its  unity,  the  most  saga- 
cious scepticism,  the  most  critical  jealousy,  is  powerless 
against  it.  It  is  difficult  to  supj^ose  any  cajDacity  of 
belief  left  in  any  mind  that  could  reject  such  a  weight 
of  moral  evidence,  as  being  the  work  of  an  imj^o-stor. 
There  must  be  j)roved  the  existence  of  a  supernatural, 
all-seeing,  and  all-lcnowing  impostor,  for  the  ability  to 
invent  and  sustain  such  a  fiction. 

The  indefatigable  microscopic  investigation  and  ac- 
curacy of  modern  historic  scholars  of  great  learning 
and  acuteness,  analyzing  and  dissipating  as  unrealities 
or  falsehoods  many  things  that  had  always  been  ac- 
cepted as  fixtures  of  truth,  have  taught  us  scei^ticism 
rightfully,  in  regard  to  mere  human  testimony,  and 
have  made  doubt  a  teacher  instead  of  an  inquirer. 
The  Tichborne  trial,  it  has  been  remarked,  has  done 
more  to  weaken  Englishmen's  faith  in  the  word  of  pro- 
fessed experts,  and  consequently  in  what  are  called  the 
facts  of  history'  as  recorded  even  by  the  actors,  and 
much  more  in  the  verdicts  of  uninformed  jurors,  than 
aught  that  has  happened  for  ages.  What  is  there  that 
can  be  suj)ported  by  evidence  ?  What  that  can  release 
us  from  uncertainty  and  doubt '?  Assuredly,  in  every 
matter  that  concerns  our  eternal  welfare,  nothing  but 


Introdiidion.  Iv 


the  word  of  God.     And  therefore  there  must  have 
been  given  us  such  a  word,  such  an  infalhble  guide. 

The  cause  of  luanv  of  the  mistakes  and  misjudgments 
of  men  in  handhng  divine  truth  is  found  in  the  want 
of  a  just  balancing  of  the  two  eternal  certaiutie.s  given 
to  us  of  God, — a  Divine  word  and  a  Divine  Spirit. 
There  is  no  certainty  on  earth  without  these  gifts  from 
heaven  in  their  unity;  neither  is  there  any  possible  ad- 
justment of  forces  between  them,  or  right  conclusion 
from  them,  except  by  the  constant  prayerful  reference 
of  each  to  the  other,  and  the  incessant,  anxious  com- 
parison and  testing  of  one  with  and  by  the  other.  Ex- 
tremes of  every  kind — fanaticism  and  presumption,  su- 
perstition and  atheism, — have  resulted  from  exclusive 
reliance  upon  either;  both  together  are  the  source  of 
truth  and  power.  The  separation  is  just  as  if  you 
halved  a  pair  of  scissors,  using  first  one  blade,  then 
the  other,  without  the  leverage  of  force  from  both,  or 
as  if  you  cut  a  promissory  note  in  two.  The  Spirit 
without  the  word,  or  the  word  without  the  Spirit,  can 
no  more  replace  a  divine  infallible  inspiration  of  saving 
efficacy  for  the  soul  and  for  security  from  error,  than 
a  metallic  figirred  rim,  without  the  magnet,  can  make 
a  chronometer  or  compass. 

A  man  nuxst  go  to  God  for  every  one  of  God's  words, 
"  praying  for,  and  praying  hi  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
thus  assured,  may  build  up  himself  infallibly  in  "  God's 
most  holy  faith."  But  relying  on  the  Avord  without 
the  Spu-it,  presumption  makes  it  falsehood: — on  the 
Spirit  without  the  word, — it  is  clouds  and  wind  with- 
out rain,  and  the  mind  is  driven  about  as  a  balloon 
amons:  them. 


Ivi  IntrodMction. 


It  is  the  same  with  science;  death  from  life  instead 
of  life  from  death.  Milestones  set  vip  by  mistake  are 
permitted  to  iiile  out  celestial  time;  and  calciilations 
fi'om  a  changing  earth  nullify  celestial  certainties. 

Science  is  becoming-  a  game  of  speculations  among 
the  infinitudes;  and  time,  space,  and  eternity  are  loaded 
dice  for  the  players.  Materialism  is  a  kingdom  of  phy- 
sical epics,  the  paradise  of  mu-acles  by  natural  selec- 
tioU;,  and  science  is  playing  Baron  Munchausen  among 
them.  Some  of  the  meetings  of  the  British  Association 
itself  might  be  termed,  without  any  gi-eat  misnomer, 
the  regatta  of  the  scientific  imagination,  which  faculty 
does  not  stand  in  need  of  facts  in  regai'd  to  the  crea- 
tion, but  only  to  get  the  book  of  Genesis  and  the  j^re- 
possessions  of  theology  out  of  the  way. 

Then  comes  in  that  pecuhar  scientific  faith,  which 
Professors  TyndaU  and  Huxley  so  marvellously  distin- 
guish as  a  backward  vision  of  the  prepotency  of  matter 
with  hfe  and  mind  rising  out  of  it. 

From  this  forlorn  atheistic  materialism  proceed  the 
methods  of  that  destructive  criticism  of  the  Scriptures 
which  is  now  for  a  season  sweeping  as  an  oriental 
plague  across  much  of  our  jDopular  literature,  our  lib- 
eral theology,  our  jirofessorsliips  of  science,  our  ency- 
clopedias, and  even  our  schools  of  preparation  for  the 
mmistry  of  the  gosi:)el.  It  is  a  disastrous  bajjtism  of 
doubt,  tlu'ough  which,  even  after  the  glory  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century  of  English  literature,  our  age  seems 
to  be  passing.  The  j^lague  runs  from  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  to  the  Greek;  and  the  chips  of  a  philolog- 
ical erudition  are  thrown  for  fuel  into  the  furnaces  of 
unbelief. 


Introduction.  Ivii 

"  Two  men  of  war,"  says  Captain  Basil  Hall,  "  one 
larger  than  the  other,  were  sailing  in  company,  when 
the  man  on  the  lookont  from  the  larger  vessel  observed 
a  ship  on  the  horizon,  which  was  not  reported  by  the 
watch  of  the  smaller,  and  consequently  the  smaller 
watchman  got  the  punishment  of  cat-o'-nine-tails,  for 
his  supposed  negligence.  The  same  thing  happening 
again,  at  length  it  struck  the  commander  that  the 
mast-head  of  the  fi-igate  being  much  taller  than  that 
of  the  sloop,  and  the  earth  being  round,  the  watch  on 
the  bigger  vessel  would  of  course  see  farther  than  on 
the  smaller,  it  being  impossible  to  see  through  a  sec- 
tion of  the  earth's  curvature." 

Now  the  scientific  sceptic's  intolerance  and  spiritual 
ignorance  (for,  not  believing  in  tha  existence  of  a  re- 
veahng  Spirit,  he  can  not  have  spiritual  teaching)  would 
administer  the  cat-o' -nine-tails  of  his  criticism  upon  the 
back  of  the  behever,  whose  spiritual  sight  is  higher  up, 
on  one  of  his  Majesty's  frigates,  and  is  moreover  sharp- 
ened and  far  sighted  by  exercise,  while  the  sceptic's 
sense  is  down  on  deck  or  at  the  mast-head  of  nothing 
better  than  a  coal  lighter  or  a  pleasure  yacht,  his  ho- 
rizon and  his  vision  being  hmited  accordingly. 

By  the  horizon  of  his  nescience  he  would  limit  and 
condemn  the  prophetic  science  and  worship  of  the  be- 
hever, whom  God  has  lifted  up  by  faith  to  the  sweep 
of  an  interminable  horizon,  no  longer  merely  secular, 
but  spiritual  and  eternal. 

"  Thou,  who  art  Life  and  Light,  I  sea  Thse  spread 
Thy  glories  through  these  regious  of  the  dead. 
I  hear  Thee  call  the  sleeper:  Up  !  behold 
The  earth  unveiled  to  thee,  the  heavens  unrolled  ! 


1  \- 1  i  i  Introduction . 


On  tliy  transformed  soul  celestial  light 

Bursts;  and  the  earth  transfigured,  on  thy  sight 

Breaks  a  new  sphere  !    Ay,  stand  in  glad  amaze 

While  all  its  figures,  opening  on  thy  gaze, 

Unfold  new  meanings.     Thou  shalt  understand 

Its  mystic  hierograph,  thy  God's  own  hand  ! " — Dana. 

The  air,  the  sky,  the  stars,  are  God's  truth,  the  rocks, 
the  shells,  the  trees,  the  flowers,  the  grass.  There  is 
not  a  falsehood,  nor  an  aura  of  falsehood  or  doubt  in 
all  this  breathing  world;  but  only  the  character  and 
the  sign  manual  of  Him  who  made  it.  Cowj^er's  beau- 
tiful poetry,  and  Milton's  and  Wordsworth's,  and  the 
lOtli  Psalm  and  the  lOith,  are  the  vision  of  the  mind 
in  the  loving  sight  of  God's  truth,  as  we  are  born  into 
it.  But  it  requires  a  stronger  and  more  perfectly  bal- 
anced mind  to  hold  a  truth  with  emphasis  and  power- 
ful grasp,  than  it  does  to  hold  a  doubt,  and  be  pos- 
sessed ^^•ith  it. 

"  Sweet  is  the  lore  which  Nature  brings; 
Our  meddling  intellect 
Misshapes  the  beauteous  forms  of  things; 
We  murder  to  dissect. 

"  Enough  of  Science  and  of  Art; 
Close  up  these  barren  leaves; 
Come  forth,  and  bring  with  you  a  heart, 
That  watches  and  receives." 

Wordswoeth's  "Tables  Turned." 

The  notice  taken  of  the  Dispositions  of  "  science 
falsely  so  called,"  or  of  what  is  sometimes  styled  mod- 
ern acienlijic  llioughl,  is  not  from  any  fear  that  Chris- 


Introduction.  lix 


tianity  will  suffer,  but  (1),  that  men  will  suffer  by  the 
hiding  and  perversion  of  it;  (2)  because  of  the  fas- 
cinating intluence  of  scientific  i>pecukition,  and  its  pre- 
possessive  power  over  the  young;  (3)  because,  as  is 
often  the  case,  the  positions  from  which  the  deniers 
of  the  supernatural  j^roceed  offer  admirable  opportu- 
nities to  bring  up  the  strength  of  the  Christian  evi- 
dence in  a  new  array. 

We  have  the  advantage  of  a  cross-examination  of 
erroneous  theories  and  arguments.  Napoleon  some- 
times in  the  heat  of  the  conflict,  observing  the  strat- 
egy of  the  enemy,  changed  the  combination  and  mass- 
ing of  his  forces  so  as  to  gain  the  victory  out  of  those 
very  movements  of  his  adversaries,  which  they  sup- 
posed and  intended  to  have  been  decisive  for  his  de- 
struction. He  always  delighted  to  detect  in  then*  most 
confident  arrangements  the  point  where  they  them- 
selves made  him  conqueror.  Modern  intidehty,  in  the 
vastness  and  bold  assumptions  of  its  subtlest  methods, 
is  the  occasion  of  new  modes  of  demonstration,  new 
combinations  of  old  eternal  truth,  never  before  seen 
in  such  jiowerful  sudden  fiashing  lights,  in  such  ra- 
diances, as  of  a  corona  produced  by  an  attempted 
eclipse. 

"We  are  therefore  absolutely  certain,  and  we  hold  that 
citadel.  God  has  given  certainties  as  the  foundation  ; 
and  we  wiU  not  make  doubt  our  master-builder, 
though  so  advised  b}^  some  modern  scientists.  Faith 
is  the  life  of  perfect  health,  and  strong,  wise  action. 
Doubt,  as  a  habit,  is  scrofulous,  and  some  of  the  no- 
blest natures  have  nearly  perished  by  it. 


Ix  Introduction. 


We  could  multiply  examples,  lirofoundly  impres- 
sive and  instructive,  from  England,  Germany,  France, 
Switzerland;  from  before  and  after  the  revival  of  learn- 
ing and  the  Reformation.  The  most  conclusive  and 
satisfactory  of  all  instances,  is  that  of  the  profound 
and  candid  German  scholar  and  statesman,  Barthold 
Niebuhi-,  born  at  Copenhagen  in  177G,  son  of  the  cele- 
brated traveller  Carsten  Niebuhr.  He  inherited  the 
distinguishing  characteristics  of  his  father;  integrity 
and  truthfulness,  the  habit  of  accuracy,  admu-ation  of 
the  noble  and  beautiful,  zeal  for  justice,  liberty  and 
truth,  abhorrence  of  superficiality  and  disjDlay.  At  the 
age  of  thirty-one  he  was  master  of  twenty-  languages. 
He  was  "  one  Avho  can  only  exist  in  the  pure  mountain 
ail',  who  must  have  freedom  for  the  soul  and  intellect." 
His  views  of  "  education,  as  being  valuable  only  so  far 
as  it  is  a  true  approximation  to  a  spiritual  life,"'  he  car- 
ried out  in  the  training  of  his  son  Marcus.  He  speaks 
of  "the  recognition  of  Uic  incomprehensible,  the  admis-. 
sion  of  which,  and  the  constant  reference  to  it,  distin- 
guish the  SKKK  in  nature  from  the  ordinary  learned  man, 
and  viust  some  day  throw  a  new  light  on  all  our  sciences. 
Faith  without  testimony  is  impossible,  and  we  must 
look  to  the  succession  of  historical  events  for  the  con- 
firmation of  our  faith  in  the  existence  and  providence 
of  God." 

Lamenting  his  own  -tendency  to  doubt,  and  liis  want 
of  a  childlike  faith  in  the  Word  of  God,  Nii'buhr  re- 
cords his  determination  that  his  beloved  child  Marcus 
shall  be  protected  and  preserved  from  such  an  unbe- 
lieving i)rejudicc  by  the  encouragement  and  fostering 
of  the  Jiabit  of  faith   from  earliest  childhood;  by  the 


Introductioii.  Ixi 


discipline  of  faith  as  a  faculty,  begiuuiiif^  in  the 
ground-work  of  the  soul,  before  external  knowledge 
is  possible.  All  other  treatment  of  the  child's  mind  is 
only  savage  cruelty.  But  the  teacliing  of  God's  love  by 
the  parent  to  the  child,  becomes  the  sacred  germ  of  a 
living  faith  in  the  love  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  that  by 
the  fostering  divine  Sj^irit  shall  be  proof  against  all 
infidelit}-.  What  else  is  wisdom  or  love,  or  can  be? 
What  but  the  flinging  of  the  mind,  tender  and  inex- 
jDex'ienced,  out  into  the  wUderness  of  doubt  ? 

"  I  am  thinking  a  great  deal  about  my  son's  edu- 
cation," says  Niebuhr:  "He  sJtaU  believe  in  the  letter  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament,  and  I  shall  nurture  in  him, 
from  hu<  infancy,  a  firm  faith  in  all  that  I  have  lost, 
or  feel  uncertain  about." — "Oh  that  such  a  faith  may 
one  day  be  my  own  portion  !  " — "  When  the  confusion 
of  ideas  and  half  truths  is  the  greatest,  it  is  exactly 
at  such  a  time  that  j^rinciples  which  have  been  early 
implanted  and  carefully  watched  over,  so  as  to  gain 
all  the  strength  of  prejudice,  confer  extraordinary 
power,  both  over  the  Avorld  within  and  that  without. 
He  who  begins  his  course  thus  armed,  fights  with  a 
Aveajion  which  is  wanting  to  those  around  him." 

"  His  heart  shall  be  raised  to  God,  as  soon  as  he  is 
capable  of  a  sentiment;  and  his  childish  feelings  shall  be 
expressed  in  jirayers  and  hi/mns;  all  the  religious  prac- 
tices that  have  fallen  into  disuse  in  our  age,  shall  be 
a  necessity  and  a  law  to  him." 

"I  wish,  I  strive  with  all  my  heart,  that  he  may 
grow  up  with //(e  most  absolute  faith  in  religion;  yet  so 
that  his  faith  may  not  be  an  outward  adhesion,  that 
must  fall  away  from   him   afterAvards,  when  his  rea- 


Ixii  Introduction. 


son  comes  into  play ;  but  that  from  his  earliest  years 
the  way  may  lie  prepared  for  the  vnion  of  failh  and 
reason."  If  ever  there  was  profound  wisdom  gained 
from  sad  experience,  it  is  here. 

Describing  what  he  considers  to  be  true  faith,  Nie- 
l  uhr  recognizes  it  as  the  highest  good.  "  But  it 
would  only  be  possible  for  me,"  says  he,  "  to  attain 
it  through  supernatural  communication,  or  wonders 
and  signs  beheld  with  m}'  own  eyes.  It  is  one  thing 
to  respect,  or  not  to  reject,  quite  another  reaUy  to  be- 
heve  as  in  one's  own  existence.  Several  of  my  ac- 
quaintance have  a  very  earnest  belief,  though  of  very 
different  shades;  there  are  others  who  fuUy  imagine 
they  possess  religion,  yet  to  whom  one  can  scarcely 
attribute  more  than  a  self-delusive  assumption  of  it." 

We  know  this  illustrious  scholar  as  the  great  icon- 
oclast of  historic  dagons,  myths,  nehuslitans;  a  man  of 
learning  and  authority,  of  critical  keenness  and  sagac- 
it}^  unrivalled,  of  sincerity  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  with 
power  in  the  detection  of  falsehood.  It  was  his  very 
experience  that  the  world  is  so  full  of  Ues,  and  human 
testimony  so  suspicious,  as  he  had  proved,  by  his  own 
researches,  that  carried  him  into  a  habit  of  doubt, 
even  in  the  presence  of  incontestable  realities.  For 
this  ver}'  reason  his  testimony,  over  against  the  scorn 
of  a  religious  faith  by  such  brilliant  teachers  as  Hux- 
ley and  Tyndall,  is  priceless  and  overwhelming. 

The  sad  reflection  of  Niebuhr  that  he  himself  may 
have  irrecoverably  lost  the  capacity  of  this  faith,  from 
habitual  disuse  of  its  exercise,  gives  a  melancholy 
weight  to  his  jiarental  anxiety  for  the  right  guiding 
of  his  child's  mind.     Beautifully  illustrative  is  the  re- 


Introduction.  Ixiii 


mark  of  Ruskin  that  "  childhood  often  holds  a  truth 
with  its  feeble  fiu^^ers,  which  the  grasp  of  manhood 
can  not  retain,  which  it  is  the  pride  of  utmost  age  to 
recover."  And  so  are  Wordsworth's  lines,  on  the  soul 
that  risoth  with  us,  our  life's  star,  and  the  heaven  tliat 
lies  about  us  in  our  infancy,  and  the  shades  of  the 
l^rison-house,  closing  on  the  growing  boy; 

"At  length  the  man  perceives  the  vision  die  away, 
And  fade  into  the  light  of  common  day." 

The  knowledge  of  faith  and  prayer,  and  a  convic- 
tion of  the  supernatural  reality  and  worth  of  such  spir- 
itual habits  in  the  soul,  and  in  Uie  life  of  vafion><  os'  u-e/l 
as  indicidauL^  have  been  wrought  even  in  minds  long 
neglectful  of  these  elements,  and  in  men  the  most  sa- 
gacious, the  most  unlikely  to  be  imposed  upon  by 
shams  and  hypocrisies;  men  of  the  broadest  forecast, 
the  profoundest  practical  wisdom,  and  i:)liilosophical 
analysis,  and  men  who  have  run  the  gauntlet  both  of 
unbelief  and  doubt,  till  the  heart  has  cried  out  for  de- 
liverance. To  the  example  of  the  celebrated  and 
learned  German  histcniau,  we  add  that  of  Franklin, 
the  not  less  celebrated  American  philosopher  and 
statesman.  If  the  records  of  all  nations  were  ran- 
sacked, it  would  be  impossible  to  find  instances  of 
minds  farther  removed  from  any  j^redisposition  to 
credulity,  or  better  secured,  by  mental  habits  and  the 
knowledge  of  mankind,  from  the  domination  of  impos- 
ture. The  legacies  of  belief  which  they  have  left  for 
their  countrymen  are  possessions  for  mankind. 

The  conclusion  in  the  mind  of  Niebuhr,  as  we  have 


Ixiv  Introduction. 


noted  from  his  own  letters  in  regard  to  liis  own  chil- 
dren was,  that  they  should  be  educated  under  the  full 
power  of  the  most  sacred  j^repossessions  of  divine 
truth.  There  should  be  formed  in  their  minds,  so  far 
as  a  careful  education  could  do  it,  an  anchoring  stead- 
fastness of  assurance  in  God  and  in  Christ,  and  a 
jDower  of  religious  faith  and  reasoning,  which  he  him- 
self, to  his  infinite  sorrow,  had  lost,  and  feared  he 
could  never  regain.  They  should  thus  be  kept  from 
that  shipwreck  and  despair,  in  which  he  had  almost 
perished. 

To  the  same  conclusion  Franklin  had  come  polit- 
ically in  regard  to  the  nation.  The  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  should  be  educated  under  the  full  power  of 
sacred  prepossessions.  They  should  believe  in  God, 
and  in  their  responsibility  to  Him  as  a  nation,  and  in 
the  wisdom  of  their  political  constitution,  as  a  chart 
framed  under  His  guidance  in  answer  to  prayer. 

The  scene  at  the  congress  of  representatives  in  Amer- 
ica after  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  undertaking  what 
never  yet  had  been  accomplished  by  any  nation, 
namely,  to  settle  beforehand,  not  the  princij^les  only, 
but  the  written  constitution  enshrining  them,  for  a 
j)eople  that  within  one  hundred  years  were  to  number 
fifty  millions,  under  the  one  government  of  forty  Uni- 
ted States;  the  scene  when  Franklin  addressed  the  as- 
sembly in  behalf  of  the  wisdom,  necessity,  and  duty 
of  a  national  acknowledgment  of  responsibility  to  God, 
and  prayer  to  Him  for  guidance,  is  in  some  respects 
more  impressive  than  any  thing  recorded  in  the  an- 
nals of  history.     Its  painting  would  be  worthy  the 


Introduction.  Ixv 


genius  of  Raphael  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci  together. 
It  is  somewhat  strange  that  in  the  history  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revohition  it  has  had  so  httle  adequate  illustra- 
tion. For  never  did  philosopher  or  statesman  utter  the 
last  public  expression  of  his  thoughts  more  impressive- 
ly, or  on  a  more  important  and  sublime  occasion. 

Through  an  active  and  observant  life,  from  tlie  age 
of  fifteen  to  that  of  eighty-four,  Franklin's  mind  trav- 
elled from  the  doctrine  of  necessity  and  fate  to  that 
of  God  and  prayer;  the  latter  conviction  having  de- 
livered him  from  the  habit  of  doubting  divine  truth  to 
that  of  doubting  himself  and  human  error.  When 
the  congress  had  assembled,  in  convention,  Franklin 
had  reached  the  age  of  eighty-one. 

No  man  in  the  world  had  become  more  celebrated, 
no  man  was  more  admired,  no  man  had  received 
greater  adulation.  America  was  better  known  by 
Franklin  than  by  all  the  other  actors  in  our  history 
together.  Such  men  as  Edmund  Burke  and  Sir  Sam- 
iiel  llomilly  in  England,  and  men  of  all  classes  and 
stations  in  France,  from  the  king  and  queen  down- 
wards, were  admirers  of  his  character  and  genius. 
There  had  been  no  such  example  in  modern  history 
of  unaffected  simplicity  and  modesty  amidst  such  uni- 
versal tributes  of  respect,  confidence,  and  love. 

Nevertheless,  his  long  residence  in  France  had 
impressed  multitudes  with  the  belief  that  he  had  re- 
turned to  his  own  country  with  the  opinions  of  the 
French  revolutionary  philosophers  full  upon  him,  and 
a  tendency,  probably  as  strong  as  Jefferson's,  towards 
the  practical  infidelity  of  that  people.  So  regarded, 
Franklin  watched  the  deliberations    of  the  congre-ss 


]xvi  Introduction. 


many  weeks  patiently  and  calmly,  taking  as  yet  little 
part  in  them,  except  in  the  industrious  application  of 
his  mind  to  the  great  problems  that  were  laid  before 
the  representatives  to  solve.  And  the  greatest  of  these 
was  that  presented  by  Franklin  himself; — the  obliga- 
tion of  a  national  religioiis  faith  in  God,  and  the  duty 
of  seeking  Him  in  supplication  for  His  guiding  provi- 
dence and  Spirit. 

This  was  Franklin's  religious  philosophy,  and  he 
would  have  inspired  the  whole  representative  con- 
gress with  it,  if  he  could  have  done  it.  But  he  could 
not  breathe  into  those  whom  he  addressed  the  fervor 
and  sincerity  of  his  own  convictions.  Tlie}^  regarded 
him  with  amazement,  and  listened  as  the  multitude  of 
the  Areopagites  listened  to  Paul. 

At  a  very  early  period  of  his  pubhc  career,  we  find 
Franklin  issuing  proposals  for  the  education  of  j'outh 
in  Pennsylvania,  in  which  he  said,  "  History  will  also 
afford  frequent  opportunities  of  showing  the  neces- 
sity of  a  jmhJic  reUgion,  from  its  usefulness  to  the 
public;  the  advantage  of  a  religious  character  among 
private  persons;  the  mischief  of  superstition;  and  the 
excellency  of  the  Christian  religion  above  all  others, 
ancient  or  modern." 

In  1748,  an  association  having  been  formed  for  the 
defence  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  Franklin 
proposed  to  the  govei'nor  and  council,  "  calling  in  the 
aid  of  religion,  to  promote  reformation,  and  implore 
the  blessing  of  He.aven  on  the  undertaking.  They  em- 
braced the  motion,  but  as  it  was  the  first  fast  ever 
thought  of  in  the  Province,  the  secretary  had  no  pre- 
cedent from  which  to  draw  the  proclamation.     My  ed- 


Introdiidion.  Ixvii 


ucation  in  New  England,"  says  Franklin,  "  where  a  fast 
is  proclaimed  every  year,  was  here  of  some  advantage. 
I  drew  it  up  in  the  accustomed  style;  it  was  trans- 
lated into  German,  printed  in  both  languages,  and  cir- 
culated through  the  Province."  At  this  time  Frank- 
lin was  thirty-three  years  of  age,  and  the  unbelief  of 
his  youth  had  returned  to  the  behefs  of  his  childhood 
and  of  his  earliest  education. 

From  a  child  Franklin  was  so  fond  of  reading  that 
aU  the  little  money  that  came  into  his  hands  was  al- 
ways laid  out  in  books.  And  the  very  first  collection 
of  books  he  ever  made,  the  very  nest  egg  of  his  li- 
brary', was  of  John  Bunyan's  works  in  separate  little 
volumes— a  purchase  induced  by  his  love  of  the  "  Pil- 
grim's Progress."  That  and  "  Plutarch's  Lives,"  with 
the  book  of  De  Foe's  called  an  "  Essay  on  Projects," 
and  another  of  Dr.  Mather's,  called  "Essays  to  do 
Good,"  gave  him,  he  says,  a  turn  of  thinking  that  had 
an  infiaence  on  some  of  the  principal  future  events  of 
his  life.  It  was  "  his  bookish  inclination  "  that  deter- 
mined his  father  to  make  him  a  printer,  and  he  began 
his  journe^'uianship  under  his  brother  James  at  the  age 
of  twelve  years.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  "  after  doubt- 
ing b}^  turns  of  several  points  of  principles  and  morals, 
as  he  found  them  disputed  in  the  different  books  he 
read,  he  began,"  he  says,  "to  doubt  of  Revelation  it- 
self, till  he  became  a  thorough  deist,  and  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  wrote  a  pamphlet  to  prove  the  doctrine  of 
fate,  from  the  supposed  attributes  of  God.  But  in 
1730,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  wrote  a  pamphlet 
on  the  other  side  of  the  question,  "  which  began  with 
laying  for  its  foundation  this  fact,  that  aluiost  all  men 


Ix^'iii  Introduction. 


in  all  ages  and  countries  have  at  times  made  use  of 
i:>rayer."  His  earlier  jDamplilet  "ajipeared  not  near 
so  clever  a  performance  as  he  once  thought  it,"  and 
his  doubts  now  took  the  form  of  self-doubting.  He 
"  doubted  whether  some  error  had  not  insinuated  it- 
self unperceived  into  his  argument,  so  as  to  infect  all 
that  followed,  as  is  common  in  metaphysical  rea- 
sonings." 

At  the  age  of  fifty-eight,  in  1764,  we  find  him  writ- 
ing to  his  daughter  Sarah:  "  Go  constantly  to  church, 
whoever  preaches.  The  act  of  devotion  in  the  Com- 
mon Prayer  is  your  principal  business  there,  and  if 
jDroperly  attended  to  will  do  more  toward  amending 
the  heart  than  sermons  generally  can  do.  For  they 
were  composed  [the  prayers]  by  men  of  much  greater 
13iety  and  wisdom  than  our  common  composers  of 
sermons  can  pretend  to  be;  and  therefore  I  wish  you 
w^ould  never  miss  the  prayer  days.  I  pray  that  God's 
blessing  may  attend  you,  which  is  worth  more  than  a 
thousand  of  mine,  though  they  are  never  wanting." 

From  this  impressive  record  we  pass  on  to  the  age 
of  seventy-eight  in  1784.  We  find  Franklin  review- 
ing the  course  of  his  own  and  his  early  partner,  Stra- 
han's,  prosperity,  and  the  causes  of  the  success  of  the 
American  Eevolution.  "  But  after  all,  my  dear  friend, 
do  not  imagine  that  I  am  vain  enough  to  ascribe  our 
success  to  any  superiority  in  any  of  these  jjoints.  I 
am  too  weU  acquainted  with  all  the  springs  and  levers 
of  our  machine  not  to  see  that  our  human  means  were 
unequal  to  our  undertaking;  and  that,  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the  consequent 
interposition  of  Providence,  in  which  we  had  faith,  \<q 


Introduction.  1  v'  k 


must  have  been  ruined.  If  I  bad  ever  before  been  an 
atheist,  I  should  now  have  been  convinced  of  the  being 
and  government  of  a  Deity !  It  is  He  who  abases  the 
proud  and  favors  the  humble.  May  we  never  forget 
His  goodness  to  us,  and  may  our  future  conduct  man- 
ifest our  gratitude." 

Franklin's  motion  in  the  Federal  Convention  for 
opening  their  deliberations  with  prayer  was  introduced 
after  four  or  five  weeks  spent  in  confusion  of  counsels, 
without  progress,  without  unity,  but  with  perplexed 
and  opposing  interests  and  schemes.  It  seemed  as  if 
only  a  divine  interposition  and  grace  could  inspire  the 
members  with  patriotic  confidence  and  wisdom. 

"In  this  situation  of  this  assembly,"  said  Franklin, 
"groping,  as  it  were,  in  the  dark  to  find  political 
truth,  and  scarce  able  to  distinguish  it  when  present- 
ed to  us,  how  has  it  happened,  sir,  that  we  have  not 
hitherto  once  thought  of  humbly  applying  to  the  Fa- 
ther of  Lights  to  illuminate  our  understandings  ?  In 
the  beginning  of  the  contest  with  Britain,  when  we 
were  sensible  of  danger,  we  had  daily  prayers  in  this 
room  for  the  Divine  protection.  Our  prayers,  sir, 
were  heard,  and  they  were  graciously  answered.  All 
of  us  who  were  engaged  in  the  struggle  must  have 
observed  frequent  instances  of  a  superintending  Prov- 
idence in  our  favor.  To  that  kind  Providence  we 
owe  this  happy  opportunity  of  consulting  in  peace  on 
the  means  of  establishing  our  future  national  felicity. 
And  have  we  now  forgotten  that  powerful  Friend  ?  Or 
do  we  imagine  we  no  longer  need  His  assistance  ?  I 
have  lived,  sir,  a  long  time,  and  the  longer  I  live  the 
more  convincing  proofs  I  see  of  this  truth,  that  God 


1  x  X  Litroduction . 


governs  in  the  aliiiirs  of  men.  And  if  ca  sparrow  can 
not  fall  to  the  ground  without  His  notice,  is  it  prob- 
able that  an  empire  can  rise  Avithout  His  aid?  ^,Ve 
have  been  assvired,  sir,  in  the  sacred  writings,  that '  ex- 
cept the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that 
build  it.'  1  firmly  believe  this;  and  I  also  beheve  that 
without  His  concurring  aid  we  shall  succeed  in  this  po- 
litical building  no  better  than  the  builders  of  Babel; 
we  shall  be  divided  by  our  little,  partial,  local  inter- 
ests: our  projects  will  be  confounded,  and  we  ourselves 
shall  become  a  reproach  and  a  byword  down  to  future 
ages.  And  what  is  worse,  mankind  may  hereafter, 
from  this  unfortunate  instance,  despair  of  establishing 
government  by  human  wisdom,  and  leave  it  to  chance, 
war,  and  conquest.  I,  therefore,  beg  leave  to  move 
that  henceforth  prayers,  imploring  the  assistance  of 
Heaven  and  its  blessing  on  our  deliberations,  be  held 
in  this  assembly  every  morning  before  we  proceed  to 
business,  and  that  one  or  more  of  the  clergy  of  this 
city  be  requested  to  officiate  in  that  service." 

The  only  notice  by  Dr.  Franklin  of  the  result  of  his 
motion  was  that  of  simple  astonishment,  thus:  "The 
convention,  excejDt  three  or  foui*  jDersons,  thought 
prayers  unnecessary !  " 

The  names  of  those  thi-ee  or  four  persons,  support- 
ing Franklin's  motion,  would  have  been  an  illustrious 
catalogue  of  witnesses.  It  is  amazing  that  their  peti- 
tion for  the  acknowledgment  of  our  national  depend- 
ence uix)n  Grod  could  have  been  so  utterly  disregarded. 

To-day  we  are  verging  on  the  centennial  anniversary 
of  the  adoption  of  this  constitution;  and  in  less  than 
fiftv  years,  a  hundred  and  fiftv  millions  of  immortal 


Inirodiution .  1  x  x  i 


beings  will  be  under  its  rnle,  if  it  please  God  to  spare 
us  as  a  nation.  We  may  well  read  and  apply  Words- 
worth's sonnet  on  The  Obligations  of  Civil  to  Relig- 
ious Liberty. 

"  Ungi-ateful  Country,  if  thou  e'er  forget 
The  sons  who  for  thy  civil  rights  have  bled; 
How,  like  a  Koman,  Sydney  bowed  his  head, 
And  Russel's,  milder  blood  the  scaffold  wet  ! 
But  the.se  had  fallen  for  profitless  regret, 
Had  not  thy  holy  Church  her  champions  bred, 
A)id  claims  from  other  worlds  inspirited 
The  Star  of  Liberty  to  rise.     I^^or  yet, 
(Grave  this  within  thy  heart! )  if  spiritual  things 
Be  lost  through  apathy,  or  scorn,  or  fear, 
Shalt  thou  thy  humbler  franchises  support, 
Hoicever  hardly  won  or  justly  dear; 
What  came  from  Heaven  to  Heaven  by  nature  clings, 
And  if  dissevered  thence  its  course  is  short." 

It  is  a  gi'eat  gain  when,  in  aid  of  our  own  investiga- 
tion, we  can  bring  to  the  illustration  of  the  Scriptures, 
not  merely  the  notes  and  discoveries  of  profound  the- 
ological inquii-ers,  such  as  Butler,  Howe,  Edwards, 
Chalmers,  but  also  the  example,  experience,  and  con- 
clusions of  such  men  as  Niebuhr  and  Franklin.  So 
the  witnesses  and  vouchers  for  God's  Word,  and  the 
l^rovidential  demonstrations  of  its  truth  are  multiply- 
ing, as  by  compound  interest,  through  eveiy  age. 


FAITH,   DOUBT,   AND    EVIDENCE. 
I. 

ADVENTURES   OF  THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF   FRANK- 
LIN—ITS COPIES  AND   TRANSLATIONS. 

Towards  the  close  of  tlie  year  1789,  Dr.  Franklin 
presented  to  his  friend  M.  le  Veillard,  then  Mayor 
of  Passy  in  France,  a  copy  of  his  Autobiography,  as 
far  as  at  that  tiane  he  had  written  it.  His  death 
occurred  shortly  afterwards,  on  the  17th  April, 
1790,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four  years  and  three 
mouths.  All  his  papers,  including  the  original  of 
that  copy  which  had  been  given  to  his  friend, 
passed  into  possession  of  his  gra}idson,  "William 
Temple  Franklin,  who  engaged  to  j^repare  the  life 
and  writings  of  Franklin,  fi-om  those  materials,  for 
jjublication  in  London. 

In  preparing  this  work,  its  editor,  Franklin's 
grandson,  gave  up  to  Madame  le  Veillard,  whose 
husband  had  j^erished  by  the  guillotine,  the  orvjinal 
autograph  manuscript  of  Franklin's  life,  written  with 


2  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Lis  own  hand,  in  exchange  for  that  copy  of  it  "which 
Frankhn  had  given  to  his  friend.  Perhaps  the  edi- 
tor may  have  done  this  at  the  request  of  Madame 
le  Veillard,  in  order  that  the  printers  might  use  her 
copy  in  printing  the  work,  so  that  FranMin's  own 
autograjih  might  be  preserved  untouched,  unsoiled. 

Be  this  as  it  ma^^  the  autograph  had  gone  from 
the  possession  of  the  descendants  of  Franklin;  and 
at  the  death  of  Madame  le  Veillard  the  original 
manviscript  passed  to  her  daughter;  and  at  her  death 
in  1834,  it  passed  to  her  cousin  M.  de  Senai'mont. 
Then  it  came  into  possession  of  Senai'mont's  grand- 
son, and  at  length,  in  18G7,  this  gentleman,  M.  P. 
de  Senai'mont,  transferred  it  to  Mr.  John  Bigelow, 
then  Minister  of  the  United  States  at  Paris. 

This  invaluable  MS.  as  it  came  into  IVIi".  Bige- 
low's  possession  in  j^erfect  preservation,  consisted  of 
two  hundred  and  twenty  folio  pages,  and  was  half 
bound  in  red  morocco.  A  blank  margin  of  half  the 
page's  iridth  was  left  on  each  page,  that  the  writer 
might  have  ample  room  for  whatever  additions  or 
corrections  he  might  choose  to  make  at  a  futui'o 
time.  Accordingly,  these  mai'gins  wei*e  frequently 
so  occuijied.  Every  page  was  in  clear  and  distinct 
handwriting,  but  with  mamj  interlineations  and  eras- 
ures. The  whole  was  accompcUiied  with  a  memo- 
randum written  in  French  and  English  on  the  liy- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  j 

leaves,  beginning  as  follows:  "The  Life  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  written  by  bimself.  The  only  mannscrij^t 
entirely  of  his  own  handwTiting."  Then  follows  a 
brief  mention  of  the  presentation  of  the  copy  of 
this  original  to  M.  le  Veillard,  and  of  the  manner 
in  which  that  copy  came  to  be  exchanged  for  the  origi- 
nal autograph  itself;  so  that  this,  "the  original  and 
only  manuscript"  in  Fraukhn's  handwriting,  "came 
by  inheritance  into  the  hands  of  M.  de  Senarmont, 
M.  le  Veillard's   grand-nephew." 

It  is  stated  in  the  memorandum  that  Avlien  "Wil- 
liam Temple  Franklin,  Dr.  Franklin's  grandson,  came 
to  Europe  in  order  to  publish  the  works  of  his  illus- 
trious grandfather,  M.  le  Veillard  having  perished  on 
the  revolutionary  scaffold,  the  grandson  of  Franklin 
requested  from  Madame  le  Veillard  "  the  correct  and 
fine  copy  given  by  his  grandfather,  as  more  conven- 
ient for  the  p)t'inter." 

"If  I  give  it  to  you,"  answered  Madame  le  VeiUard, 
"I  shall  have  nothing  more  of  our  friend." 

Then  answered  Dr.  Franklin's  grandson,  "I  wiU 
give  you  in  place  of  the  copy,  the  original  manu- 
script of  my  grandfather."  And  so  it  came  abovit, 
and  is  verified. 

It  is  not  stated  in  this  memorandum  ivhcn  the 
exchange  of  manuscwpts  was  made.  But  there  is 
a   letter   from   Franklin's    gfi'andson    to    M.   le   Veil- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


lard,  dated,  Philadelphia,  22d  May,  1790,  aBiaouncing 
Franklin's  death,  and  saying  that  the  original  auto- 
grajDh  of  the  Memoirs  was  in  his  grandson's  jDosses- 
sion,  and  that  he  should  probably  go  to  Europe  to 
pul)lish  his  grandfather's  works.  And  a  few  months 
after  this  letter  was  written,  we  find  him  in  London, 
preparing,  or  intending  to  jirepare,  those  works  for 
l^nblication.  A  letter  from  M.  le  Veillard  to  the 
Journal  de  Paris,  dated  at  Passy,  21st  March,  1791, 
states  that  Franklin's  grandson  "w  now  in  England, 
occupied  with  this  work,  and  is  expected  in  France 
in  a  few  days,  to  complete  it."  "We  have  also  let- 
ters from  the  grandson  to  M.  le  Veillard  in  1791 
and  1792,  referring  to  the  intended  jiublication,  as 
being  in  good  train,  but  no  suggestion  as  to  any 
use  to  be  made  by  the  jirinters,  of  the  MS.  coi:)y 
in  possession  of  M.  le  Veillard. 

Meantime,  a  French  translation  of  the  Autobiog- 
raphy of  Franklin  apjDeared  in  Paris  in  1791;  and 
M.  le  Veillard  stated  in  his  note  to  the  Journal  de 
Paris  that  this  jDublication  did  in  fact  contain  "the 
commencement  of  the  Memoirs  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
ahnost  enlin'hj  conforming  to  the  manuscript  which 
I  (M.  le  Veillard)  possess";  but  that  the  translator 
did  never  have  that  manuscript  from  him  (M.  le 
Veillard),  and  that  the  translation,  wherever  he,  the 
translator,  might  have  got  the  original,  was  only  a 


Faith,  Dottbt,  and  Evidence. 


fragment  of  the  Autobiograpliy,  ending  in  tlie  year 
1730,  and  containing-  hardhj  a  third  part  of  M.  le 
Veillard's  copy,  which  he  said  itself  came  down 
only  to  1757,  and  did  not  terminate  the  work, 
"  the  remainder  of  which  is  in  the  hands  of  ]Mr. 
W.  T.  Franldin." 

Thus  we  find  that  the  first  publication  of  any 
jjortion  of  Franklin's  AutobiogTai^hical  Memoirs  was 
in  French,  and  was  translated  either  from  the  ori"f- 
inal  Eng-Hsh  MS.,  in  possession  of  Franklin's  grand- 
son, or  from  another  copy,  which  may  have  been  in 
l^ossession  of  Mr.  Vaughan,  as  such  a  copy  had 
been  jiromised  him  by  Dr.  Franldin,  and  may  have 
been  given  him.  But  the  translator  gave  no  ac- 
count of  "the  mamier  in  which  the  original  manu- 
script of  these  Memou-s,  which  are  written  in  the 
English  language,  came  into  my  joossession."  IMr. 
Bigelow  says  that  it  embraced  only  the  first  eighty- 
seven  pages  of  the  manuscript.  And  the  translator 
of  that  portion  suggests  that  Franklin  may  himself 
have  written  more  of  his  own  histor}',  and  that,  if 
so,  his  heirs  could  not  fail  to  publish  it,  some  day 
or  other,  though  his  family  would  not  be  likely  "to 
disclose  any  other  than  the  most  brilliant  j)eriod  of 
his  life." 

"  If  my  conjecture  prove  right,"  said  he,  "  if  the 
Memoii's  which  they  are  about  to  pubhsh  under  the 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


name  of  Fraiililiu  should  be  mutilated;  if  the  first 
part,  so  essential  to  readers  capable  of  feeUng  and 
judging,  should  be  suppressed,  I  shall  applaud  my- 
self for  having  preserved  it;  and  the  world  will  be 
obliged  to  me  for  having  enabled  them  to  follow 
the  early  developments  of  the  genius,  and  the  first 
exertions  of  the  subhme  and  profound  mind  of  a 
man  who  afterwards  penetrated  the  mystery  of  elec- 
tricity, and  discovered  the  secret  measures  of  des- 
potism;—who  preserved  the  universe  from  the  rav- 
ages of  thunder,  and  his  native  country  from  the 
horrors  of  tyranny." 

There  is  also  a  letter  from  Dr.  Price,  dated  at 
Hactney,  June  19,  1790,  written  to  a  gentleman  in 
Philadelphia,  remarking  on  the  death,  character,  and 
Autobiograi^hical  Memoirs  of  Franklin.  The  account 
of  his  death  in  April,  1790,  had  just  been  received  by 
Dr.  Price  from  this  gentleman;  and  in  acknowledg- 
ing this  favor.  Dr.  Price  speaks  of  the  Autobiography 
as  follows:  "The  account  which  he  has  left  of  his 
life  will  show,  in  a  striking  example,  how  a  man, 
by  talents,  industry,  and  integrity,  may  rise  from 
obscurit}''  to  the  first  eminence  and  consequence  in 
the  world;  but  it  brings  his  history  no  lower  than 
the  3ear  1757,  and  I  understand  that  i^lnce  he  sent 
over  the  copy,  ichich  I  have  read,  he  has  been  able  to 
make  no  additions  to  it." 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  y 

The  veiy  first  publication  at  all,  of  any  portion 
of  Franklin's  Autobiography,  being  this  French  trans- 
lation, the  first  publication  in  EngJi.-'h  was  a  transla- 
tion//-ojh  this  Fi'ench  translation,  in  1793.  Two  vei'- 
sions,  Mr.  Bigelow  states,  were  published  in  Loudon, 
two  years  after  the  French  pubHcation  in  Paris,  and 
both  versions  were  translations  from  the  French. 
The  first  of  these  versions  was  the  onJ^j  English 
version  printed  and  extant  in  America,  doirn  to  1817, 
when  the  edition  by  Franklin's  grandson  first  made 
its  appearance. 

And  this  first  translation  from  the  French  back 
into  English  continues  to  this  day  to  be  republished 
by  some  of  the  largest  houses,  not  only  in  Euroj)e 
but  in  America,  under  the  impression  that  it  is  both 
the  genuine,  original  Autobiograjihy  of  Franldin  in 
his  own  language,  and  comj^lete.  How  many  per- 
sons there  are  therefore,  who  have  never  read  one 
word  of  Franklin's  own  writing,  in  his  own  inimit- 
able simplicity,  puritj^  and  beauty  of  style  and  lan- 
guage, convening  his  thoughts  in  a  medium  as  art- 
less and  transparent  as  the  summer  air. 

When  these  translations  and  retranslations  were 
first  made  and  published,  the  original  MS.  in  Frank- 
lin's handwriting  was  in  i:)Ossession  exclusively  of  his 
grandson.  But  we  know  that  previous  to  the  year 
1802  it  had  passed  by  exchange  into  the  i^ossession 


8  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

of  ]\Iadame  le  Veillard,  and  by  inheritance  into  the 
hands  of  ^I.  de  Senarmont.  We  have  this  land- 
mark aiwl  jiroof  in  a  singularly  interestmg  record 
in  the  diary  of  Sii'  Samuel  Romilly,  written  duiing 
his  visit  to  France  in  1802.  The  record  is  given  in 
full  by  Mr.  Bigelow,  but  "sve  prefer  to  copy  it  for  a 
reason  which  will  be  seen,  from  the  second  volume 
of  the  Memou-s  of  the  Life  of  Ronully,  edited  by  his 
sons,  and  published  by  Murray,  in  London,  in  1840. 
"Sept.  6."  Romilly  writes,  "we  went  to  Passy  with 
Madame  Gautier."  "  Sep.  7.  Madame  Gautier  pro- 
cured for  me  the  reading  of  the  original  MS.  of  Dr. 
Franklin's  'life.  There  are  only  two  coj^ies — this,  and 
one  which  Dr.  F.  took  with  a  machine  for  cojoying 
letters,  and  which  is  in  the  possession  of  his  gi'and- 
son.  Franklin  gave  the  MS.  to  M.  Viellard,  of  Passy, 
who  was  guillotined  dui'ing  the  revolution.  L^pon 
his  death,  it  came  into  the  hands  of  liis  daughter 
or  granddaughter,  Madame  VieUard,  who  is  the  prc^s- 
ent  possessor  of  it.  It  appears  evidently  to  be  the 
first  draft  written  bj'  Franklin;  for  in  a  great  many 
places,  the  word  originally  written  is  erased  with  a 
pen,  and  a  word  nearly  synonymous  is  substituted 
in  its  place,  not  over  the  other,  but  fju'ther  on,  so 
as  manifestly  to  show  that  the  correction  was  made 
at  the  time  of  the  origimxl  composition.  The  MS. 
contains  a  great   many  additions,   made   upon   a    very 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  g 

xoide  margin;  but  I  did  not  find  that  a  single  pas- 
sage was  anywhere  struck  out.  Part  of  the  work, 
but  not  quite  ha[f  of  it,  has  been  translated  into  French, 
and  from  tJie  French  retranslated  into  English.  The 
life  comes   down  no  lower  than  to  the  jcar  1757." 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  Murray's  edition  of  the 
Meriioii'S  of  the  Life  of  Komilly,  the  name  of  Dr. 
Frankhn's  friend  is  given  as  Viellard  instead  of  Veil- 
lard,  as  written  by  Mr.  Bigelow  from  the  French 
memorandum.  It  is  much  as  if  the  word  Dolman 
in  French  were  spelled  Oldman  in  EngHsh,  or  Dol- 
buck,  Oldbuck.  It  is  worthy  of  note  as  an  examj^le 
of  the  unportance  of  the  greater  part  of  the  dif- 
ferences found  in  manuscripts,  say  thu'ty  thousand 
variations  in  the  MSS.   of  the  Scriptures. 

And  yet,  a  letter  dropped  or  added  might  carry 
down  to  aU  time  the  difference  between  falsehood 
and  truth.  Lightfoot  remarks  upon  the  career  of 
Gehazi,  "  Gehazi's  covetousness  brings  upon  him  Naa- 
mau's  leprosy.  The  text  hath  divinely  omitted  a  let- 
ter in  one  word,  that  it  might  the  more  brand  him 
with  a  blot  for  this  his  viUany.  I  will  run  after 
Naaman,  saith  he,  and  \N-iIl  take  of  him  muniah,  a 
blot,  instead  of  inaumah,  somewhat."  II  Kings  v.  20, 
tal-e  .someichai  of  him.  It  was  the  case  of  a  wicked 
man  taken  in  his  own  mischief,  and  bound  in  a 
life-long  exj)3rience  to  the  body  of  his   own   death. 


10  Faith,  Doiibl,  and  Evidence. 

There    are   other   such   records,   not  in  the   Hebrew 
Scriptures  only. 

The  interest  with  which  Eomilly  examined  this 
avitogra^Dh  of  Franklin  may  be  judged  from  a  rec- 
ord by  Romilly  in  1783,  on  a  visit  to  Paris,  of  an 
interview  with  Franklin,  then  residing  at  Passy.  It 
was  the  first  and  only  time  he  ever  had  the  happi- 
ness of  conversing  with  him.  He  made  this  visit 
with  his  fi'iend  John  Baynes.  "Dr.  Franklin,"  he 
says,  "  was  ijidulgent  enough  to  converse  a  good 
deal  with  us,  whom  he  observed  to  be  young  men 
very  desirous  of  imj^roving  by  his  conversation.  Of 
all  the  celebrated  persons  whom  in  my  life  I  have 
chanced  to  see,  Di\  Franklin,  both  from  his  appeai'- 
ance  and  his  conversation,  seemed  to  me  the  most  re- 
markable. His  venerable  patriarchal  appearance,  the 
simplicity  of  his  manner  and  language,  and  the  nov- 
elty of  his  observations,  at  least  the  novelty  of  them 
at  that  time  to  me,  impressed  me  with  an  opinion 
of  him,  as  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  that 
ever  existed.  The  American  Constitutions  were  then 
very  recentlj'  i:)ublished.  I  remember  liis  reading  ns 
some  passages  out  of  them,  and  cxjiressing  some  sur- 
prise that  the  French  government  had  jyermitled  the  x>uh- 
lication  of  them  in  France.  They  certainly  produced 
a  very  great  sensation  at  Paris,  the  efl'ects  of  which 
were  probably  felt  man}'  years  afterward." 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ii 


II. 

RECOVERY  AND  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  AUTOGRAril 
BY   MR.   BIGELOW. 

It  appears  from  passages  in  existing  letters  from 
Dr.  Franklin  to  his  friends  ]\I.  le  Yeillard  and  ]Mr. 
Vaughan,  that  in  the  year  1789  he  had  given  np  all 
expectation  of  being  able  to  complete  the  Memoirs 
as  he  had  designed,  but  that  he  was  having  a  copy  of 
them,  as  far  as  he  had  then  icritfen  them,  prepared  for 
these  two  gentlemen.  To  M.  le  Veillard  he  saj-s, 
Sept.  5,  1789,  "  I  have  not  been  able  to  continue 
my  Memou's,  and  now  I  suppose  I  shall  never  finish 
them.  Benjamin  has  made  a  copy  of  what  is  done,  for 
you,  which  shall  be  sent  by  the  first  safe  opportunity." 

To  Mr.  Vaughan  he  says,  June  3,  1789,  referring 
to  his  ill  health,  "I  have  but  little  time  in  which  I 
can  write  any  thing.  ]\Iy  grandson,  however  is  copy- 
ing what  is  done,  which  will  be  sent  to  you  for  your 
opinion  by  the  next  vessel;  and  not  merely  for  your 
opinion,  but  for  your  advice."  And  in  another  let- 
ter to  Mr.  Vaughan,  Nov.  2,  1789,  he  says,  "What 
is  already  done  /  now  send  you.  In  the  meantime 
I  desire  and  exjDect  that  you  will  not  suffer  any  cojw 
of  it,  or  of  any  part  of  it,  to  be  taken  for  any  pur- 
pose whatever." 


J 2  Faith,  Donbt,  and  Evidence. 


In  this  letter  he  requests  Dr.  Price,  with  Mr. 
Vaughan,  to  read,  criticall}^  examine,  and  give  their 
candid   opinion,  whether  to  publish   or   suj^press  it. 

In  reference  to  these  copies  of  the  Memoirs,  here 
stated  as  having  been  in  preparation,  we  have  the 
additional  testimony  of  the  Duke  de  la  Rochefou- 
cault,  in  1789,  that  "the  two  cojiies  of  the  liistory  of 
Franklin's  own  life, — one  of  which  was  sent  by  Frank- 
lin to  London,  to  Dr.  Price  and  Mr.  Vaughan,  and 
the  other  to  Monsieiu-  le  Veillai'd  and  me  (the  Duke), 
reach  no  further  than  the  year  1757."  This  is  a  di- 
rect affirmation  that  the  two  copies,  which  Fraukhu 
says  in  his  letters  were  being  prej)ared,  and  should 
be  sent  immediateh'',  xoere  sent  to  those  for  whom 
they  were  intended.  And  certainly  the  one  intended 
for  M.  le  Veillard  and  the  Duke  himself  had  been 
not  only  sent,  but  received  and  i-ead  by  the  Duke. 
And  of  both  the  coi>ies  he  gives  the  same  character- 
istic, as  ending  at  the  year  1757.  This  leaves  scarce- 
ly a  doubt  that  Mr.  Vaughan's  copy  was  in  exist- 
ence in  London,  as  well  as  M.  le  Veillard's  copy  in 
France,  at  the  same  early  date.  But  Sir  Samuel 
Eomilly  in  1802  had  no  knowledge  of  any  other 
copy  except  that  which  was  in  possession  of  Frank- 
lin's grandson;  and  all  his  knowledge  of  that  may 
have  been  received  from  Madame  Gautier,  or  Ma- 
dame le  Veillard  herself. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ij 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance  in  the  history  of  this 
autograj)h  that  until  it  came  into  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Bigelow,  that  is,  neai-ly  one  hundi'ed  years  after  it 
was  commenced  by  FrankHn,  and  dated  at  the  coun- 
try seat  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph's  in  England,  in 
1771,  it  had  never  once  been  collated  with  the  copy 
of  it  in  possession  of  Dr.  FrankUn's  grandson,  nor 
with  the  Memoirs  printed  from  that  copy,  in  1817. 
Evidently  the  grandson  of  Franklin,  when  he  ex- 
changed the  original  autograph  with  M.  le  Veillard 
for  that  copy,  had  never  himself  examined  it,  nor 
did  he  ever  attempt  to  verify  the  copy  from  which 
he  printed,  by  comparison  with  the  original,  wliich 
Franklin  wrote.  He  did  not  know  that  eight  pages 
existed  at  the  close  of  Franklin's  Autobiography, 
wliich  did  not  exist  in  the  copy  ichich  lie  used  in  pub- 
lishing the  Memou-s.  Nor  was  any  one  else  aware 
of  it.  Nor  did  it  ever  come  to  light,  until  the  care- 
fvd.  collation  and  comparison  made  b}^  Mr.  Bigelow 
between  the  autograph  which  he  received  fi-om  M. 
de  Senarmont  in  1807  and  the  edition  of  the  Me- 
moirs in  1817,  prepared  in  London  by  WiUiam 
Temjile  Franklin,  "  the  first  and  only  edition  that 
ever  purported  to  have  been  printed  from  the  man- 
uscript."    But  not  from  the  autograj)h. 

"The  results  of  this  collation,"  says  Mr.  Bigelow, 
"  revealed  the  curious  fact  that  more  than  twelve  hurt- 


14  Faithy  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

dred  separate  and  distinct  changes  had  been  made  in 
the  text,  and  what  is  more  remarkable,  that  the  last 
eight  pages  of  the  manuscript,  which  are  second  in 
value  to  no  other  eight  pages  of  the  work,  loere 
omitted  entirely." 

Mr.  Bigelow  gives  us,  from  the  first  chapter  of 
the  MS.,  some  specimens  of  these  alterations,  side 
by  side  with  the  original,  showing  that  they  were 
dehberate,  and  must  have  been  the  result  of  con- 
siderable work  and  contrivance  on  the  part  of  the 
editor,  substituting  the  suggestions  of  his  own  taste, 
and  jDerhaj^s  vanity,  instead  of  the  expressions  of 
Franklin's  own  thought  and  style.  Sometimes  whole 
sentences  are  altered  and  reconstructed. 

Mr.  Bigelow  proposes  four  questions:  1,  By  whom 
the  changes  were  made?  2,  How  came  the  eight 
closing  pages  to  be  omitted?  3,  Why  was  the  pub- 
lication defeiTed  after  the  author's  death  twenty- 
seven  years,  from  1790  to  1817  ?  and  4,  "  How  haj)- 
pened  it  that  this  posthumous  work,  which  may  be 
read  in  nearly  every  written  language,  and  is  one 
of  the  half-dozen  most  widely  jDopular  books  ever 
2orinted,  should  have  filled  the  book  marts  of  the 
world  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  without  having 
ever  been  verified  by  the  original  manuscript  ? " 

A  singularly  interesting  discussion  of  these  points 
follows,  with   all   the   information   that  Mr.  Bigelow 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  i^ 


had  beeu  able  to  obtain  from  a  variety  of  sources, 
published  and  iinpuljlished;  a  most  interesting-  and 
important  disclosure,  suggesting  many  thoughts,  and 
fruitful  in  illustrations  of  the  uncertainties  that  may 
attend  the  history  of  the  productions  of  genius,  even 
when  the  libraries  of  the  world  contain  editions  of 
them,  besides  works  innumerable,  of  minutest  exam- 
ination and  history  of  the  periods  when  they  were 
produced,  and  the  events  in  which  their  authors 
lilayed  conspicuous  parts  in  sight  of  all  the  nations. 
Twelve  hundred  such  alterations  in  a  single  auto- 
biographical manuscript !  And  the  changes  of  which 
Mr.  Bigclow  has  presented  the  instances  in  the  first 
chapter  continued  through  the  whole!  This  must 
have  been,  not  indeed  a  labor  of  love,  but  a  work 
of  care  and  thought,  such  as  it  was,  whatever  the 
motives.  This  revision  and  these  alterations  would 
not  have  been  made  in  the  original  autograph,  and 
seem  not  to  have  been  attempted,  until  that  auto- 
graph had  been  exchanged  for  Madame  le  Veillard's 
copy.  Then  ensued  the  work  of  revision  and  prep- 
aration for  the  printer;  and  if  we  could  see  that 
copy,  we  should  pi'obably  see  the  erasures,  alter- 
ations, and  interpolations,  in  the  handwritmg  of 
Franldiu's  grandson;  for  beyond  all  doubt  these 
manipulations  of  the  text  were  liis.  And  they  man- 
ifest a  careless  disregard   of  the   sacredness  of  the 


t6  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

bequest,  au  inappreciation  of  the  truthfulness,  art- 
lessness,  and  simj)licity  of  Frankhn's  narrative,  a 
want  of  reverence  towards  Frankhn's  judgment,  and 
a  very  surj)rising  degree  of  j^resumption  and  vanity 
in  regard  to  his  own. 

Yet  these  twelve  hundred  alterations,  if  every  one 
of  them  was  seen  and  commented  on,  loouJd  make 
no  difference  in  any  man's  impression  of  the  truthful- 
ness and  reality  of  Franl-Un's  Autobiography,  nor  in 
any  man's  view  of  his  character,  nor  in  any  man's 
oj^inion  of  his  patriotism,  or  his  statesmanship),  or 
his  merits  as  a  philosopher,  or  his  excellence  as  a 
man,  or  his  great  and  wise  influence  in  the  counsels 
of  his  country,  or  his  instrumentality,  so  calm  and 
unobtrusive,  yet  so  central,  and  prevailing,  in  the 
progress  and  success  of  the  American  Eevolutiou. 
No  man's  confidence  in  the  history  of  that  revolu- 
tion, or  in  the  events  recorded  as  facts,  or  referred 
to,  or  the  secret  causes  of  them  disclosed  in  these 
Memoirs,  Avould  be  shaken,  not  to  say  by  twelve 
hundred,  bvit  by  twelve  thousand  such  variations. 
A  man's  impression  both  of  Franklin  and  his  coun- 
try, and  of  England  and  the  world,  is  the  same  sub- 
stantially whether  he  has  read  only  the  altered  man- 
uscript, printed  in  a  hundred  languages,  or  the 
autograjih  from  Franklin's  own  mind  and  pen. 

We  say,  substantially;  but  in  fact,  the  alterations 


\ 


Faith,  Doitbt,  and  Evidence.  ly 

carefully  considered,  would,  on  comparison  with  the 
autograph,  of  themselves  confirm  tliat  as  the  original 
characteristic  truth,  in  all  respects.  The  alterations 
prove  no  cOlhi,  but  the  perpetual  presence  and  wit- 
ness of  the  original  writer,  to  the  end. 


III. 


ALTERATIONS  AND  OMISSIONS  IN  THE  FIRST  PRINTED 
COPY— THE  QUESTION  OF  GENUINENESS. 

Now  these  things  are  instructive  and  encouraging 
to  the  sincere  and  impartial  searcher  after  truth. 
They  may  be  of  profound  interest  and  importance 
to  the  student  of  sacred  criticism  and  history,  in  the 
examination  of  the  narratives  of  the  four  gosj)els,  as 
well  as  of  the  ejoistles,  and  also  of  the  books  of 
proi^hecy  and  history  in  the  Old  Testament.  The 
general  evidence  of  individual  character,  genius,  and 
style  is  always  powerful,  and  Avorthy  of  great  reli- 
ance and  use  in  the  examination  and  judgment  of 
jiarticular  questions,  affirmations,  or  denials  as  to 
l>arts  or  the  whole   of  works   attacked   as   doubtful. 

Pat  the  autobiography  of  a  man  like  Paul  in  the 
same  category  with  that  of  such  a  man  as  Franklin, 
and  then  suppo33  as  many  or  more  manuscrii^ts  or 


1 8  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

copies,  and  the  one  from  wliicli  the  greater  part  of 
mankind  have  received  their  information  and  impres- 
sions, to  have  been  an  altered,  unrehable  copy,  the 
true  text  meddled  with,  a  false  text  in  some  places 
supplied,  and  all  this  running  on  for  several  gen- 
erations, and  then  unexpectedly  the  true,  genuine, 
unblotched  original  manuscri2:)t  discovered.  There 
would  be  no  more  variation  in  men's  opinions  of 
Paul,  or  conceptions  of  his  character,  or  doubts  of 
the  reality  of  the  events  with  which  his  life  was  con- 
nected, or  the  personages  and  their  character,  with 
whom  he  was  conversant  and  coworkiug,  and  in 
whom  he  believed; — no  more  variation  or  doubt  in 
consequence  of  the  variations  of  the  manuscripts, 
than  now  in  men's  impressions  of  FrankHn  or  of  the 
events  of  which  he  and  his  doings  and  oj^inions  were 
so  great  a  part,  or  of  the  men  in  whom  Franklin  had 
confidence. 

Put  all  the  apochryphal  manuscripts  and  tales  to- 
gether, and  all  the  proved  variations  and  alleged 
discrej)ancies,  in  gospels  or  ej)istles,  and  weigh  them 
against  the  demonstrations  from  Paul  himself,  and 
those  drawn  from  the  coincidences  between  his  life 
and  opinions  and  the  gospel  history  and  teachings, 
and  it  is  wonderful  how  exact,  full,  and  overwhelm- 
ing the  correspondence  of  undeniable  truths  and  au- 
thenticities; so  that  the  whole  imi^ression  of  our  faith 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ig 

would  not  be  clearer  or  more  confident,  if  there  had 
been  in  existence  neither  varying,  nor  altered,  nor 
apochryphal  ni  anuscripts. 

But  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  differences  be- 
tween the  original  autograph  of  Franklin  and  the 
copies,  and  the  printed  editions  brought  to  our 
knowledge  by  Mr.  Bigelow's  investigations,  is  that 
of  the  omission  of  the  eight  last  pages  of  the  work; 
not  only,  as  Mr.  Bigelow  remarks,  "second  in  value 
to  no  other  eight  pages  of  the  Memoirs,"  but  so  val- 
uable, so  enlightening,  at  the  same  moment,  as  to 
the  history  of  the  colonial  and  proprietary  laws  and 
methods  of  government,  and  of  Franldin's  own  cour- 
ageous, disinterested,  sagacious  and  generous  instru- 
mentahty  in  behalf  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania; 
his  arguments  and  influence  with  Lord  G-ranville, 
President  of  the  Council,  and  Lord  Mansfield;  and 
his  defence  of  the  assembly  against  the  oppressive 
legislation  of  the  proprietaries;  a  defence  completed 
and  assured  by  himself  giving  bonds  for  the  assem- 
bly, and  securing  the  credit  of  the  province,  at  a 
very  critical  period  and  emergency,  a><  no  other  person 
in  England  or  America  could  have  done.  JiM  this  in  the 
same  brief,  artless,  attractive  st^de,  which  throughout 
the  Memoirs  is  so  delightful,  making  law  questions 
themselves  almost  as  pleasant  and  plain  as  personal 
characters,  and  producing  an  effect  as  of  one  lying 


20  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

on  his  oars  in  a  bii'ch  canoe  on  the  St.  Lawrence  in 
a  calm  at  sunset,  and  watching  the  changes  of  the 
lovely  scenery,  gliding  by. 

These  eight  pages,  together  -v\dth  the  portion  of 
Franklin's  own  outline  of  the  topics  yet  to  have 
been  treated,  and  events  recorded,  from  1757  to 
1790,  make  one  reaHze  sadly  what  a  loss  to  the 
best  part  of  our  literature  and  histor^^  it  was,  when 
Franldin  was  compelled  by  illness  at  length  to  re- 
linquish all  hojDC  of  completing  his  work.  From 
the  words  ".sv';)<  to  England,"  we  are  carried  onward 
through  the  successive  key-notes  and  signals  of 
whole  provinces  of  interesting  and  important  events, 
stenograjjhic  ciphers  or  mementoes  to  be  filled  out 
of  the  thirty  years  yet  remaining  of  his  active  life. 

The  scenes  of  his  various  residences  in  England 
and  France,  of  Germany  also,  his  notices  of  men 
and  manners,  and  of  his  own  scientific  studies,  are 
recorded  in  such  phrases  as  these,  of  "  The  Light- 
ning Kite — Various  Discoveries — My  Manner  of  jiros- 
ecuting  that  Study — Stamp  Act — My  Opposition  to  it 
— Examination  in  Parliament — Rej)utation  it  gave  me 
— Stoves  and  Chimney-j)lates — Armonica — M}^  Char- 
acter— Costs  me  nothing  to  be  ciril  to  Inferiors;  a  good 
deal  to  be  submissive  to  Stqxriors — Abuse  before  the 
Privy  Council — Return  to  America — Congress — Com- 
mittee of  Safety — Sent  to  Boston,  to  the  Camjp,  to 


Fa  all,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  21 


Cauadii,  to  Lord  Howe,  to  France;"  all  these  bright 
ghmpses  of  the  chapters  of  a  varied,  rich,  and  most 
romantic  epic  of  adventure,  history,  discovery,  per- 
sonal command  and  creation,  reposing  unwritten  in 
his  mind;  bright  and  distinct  realities  of  providence, 
character,  and  genius,  through  the  period  of  a  whole 
generation,  the  most  profoundly  interesting  and  im- 
portant in  many  respects,  of  the  whole  history  of 
England,  America,  and  France; — all  these  syllabuses 
written  out,  had  he  been  permitted;  what  a  price- 
less inheritance  to  have  left  in  English  literature! 
The  absence  of  it  is  indeed  in  some  degree  made 
up  by  the  preservation  of  Franklin's  inestimably 
precious  letters,  so  far  as  the}'  cover  the  details  of 
this  period;  but  the  loss  of  it  is  greater  than  that 
of  any  similar  effort  of  genius  ever  undertaken  but 
not  completed,  by  any  writer  of  tlie  English  tongue. 

There  is  no  question,  nor  any  possibility  of  it,  as 
to  these  eight  pages  having  belonged  to  Franklin's 
original  autograi)h,  and  having  been  written  b}'  him. 

But  now  suppose  aU  this  had  been  the  history  of 
a  manuscript  before  the  discovery  of  the  art  of 
printing ;  suppose  in  the  second  or  third  century 
this  manuscript  first  found.  Suppose  all  the  other 
manuscripts  of  the  same  work  to  have  been  beheved 
older  ^than  this,  there  being  no  record  or  knowl- 
edge  of  the   manner   in   which    any   of    them    came 


22  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

into  existence,  only  that  they  were  krwown  to  have 
been  in  use,  and  many  coj)ies  of  them  in  cii'cvila- 
tion.  And  supjiose  that  in  all  those  cojDies  the  last 
eight  pages  found  in  the  newly-discovered  MS.  were 
wanting.  In  such  a  case  the  critical  decision  would 
be  against  the  genuineness  of  those  eight  jiages.  They 
would  have  been  set  down  as  the  work  of  some 
ingenious  forger,  and  no  argument  could  have  pre- 
vailed against  the  evidence  of  hundreds  of  sujiposed 
earlier  manuscrij)ts.  The  j^roofs  of  the  authenticity 
and  genuineness  of  the  real  autograph  having  jier- 
ished,  the  evidence  of  style,  thought,  and  historic 
congruity  Avould  go  for  nothing. 


IV. 


SIMILAR    roSSIULE    PREDICAMfeNTS    OF    THE    GOSPEL 
MANUSCRIPTS. 

In  these  resjDects  the  instances  of  Dr.  Franklin's 
autobiography,  and  that  of  Mark's  gospel  present 
a  niost  suggestive  and  illustrative  similarity.  That 
which  we  know  to  have  occurred  in  the  year  1789, 
may  have  occurred  in  the  year  59,  as  well.  A  man 
with  his  hands  full  of  lousiness,  and  his  Hfe,  with 
cares  and  interruptions,  might  be  severed  for  weeka 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  2j 

or  months  from  the  intended  continuation  of  the 
history  of  his  times;  and  the  record,  so  far  as  com- 
pleted, might  be  copied  and  recopied,  and  the  copies 
circulated,  before  the  work  was  resumed  or  could 
be  finished;  and  so  the  unfinished  copies  might  re- 
main, without  being  completed,  even  after  the  work 
was  concluded  by  the  author.  In  this  case,  the  un- 
finished copies  would  be  the  earliest  in  time,  and 
might  have  had  access  and  authority,  where  the  i)er- 
fected  work  did  not  come.  But  the  fact  of  their  not 
containing  the  author's  conclusion  could  not  be  ac- 
cepted for  testimony'  that  he  never  wrote  a  conclu- 
sion, or  that  the  additions  made  by  him  in  a  later 
writing  were  not  his. 

Not  one  of  the  many  coj)ies  first  known  of  Frank- 
lin's ^Memoirs  contained  the  eight  additional  pages 
found  in  the  discovered  original!  How  came  they 
to  be  omitted,  when  those  cojiies  wei'e  published? 
Are  those  co^^ies  trustworthy  at  all?  So  far  as  to 
what  they  contain,  they  are;  but  not  as  to  tchal  thcij 
omit.  They  are  not  capable  of  testimony  in  regard 
to  the  passages  wanting  in  them.  Why  so  ?  Because 
the  author  of  those  copies  added  the  eight  pages 
found  in  his  own  Autograph  Memoii-,  in  his  own 
handwriting,  after  aU  the  other  copies  had  l)cen  made, 
ixowi  whicli  the  work  was  i)riuted.  This  is  known 
beyond  dispute. 


2^  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence, 

But  suppose  there  were  notliing  but  raanuscrii^t 
copies  in  existence,  and  no  proof  of  the  offered  auto- 
graph cojiy  having  been  the  original.  And  suppose 
a  recension  of  manuscripts  ordered  or  undertaken  for 
an  authorized  edition.  Then  certainly  the  majority 
of  manuscripts,  and  those  known  to  have  been  the 
earliest  extant,  being  found  without  the  eight  jjages 
discovered  in  the  latest,  these  eight  pages  would  be 
pronounced  spurious,  and  not  to  be  admitted. 

Now  it  is  as  plain  in  Mark's  case  as  in  Dr.  Frank- 
lin's, that  the  author  of  the  first  gosj)el  manuscript 
referred  to  or  known  as  Mark's,  may  have  dismissed 
from  his  hand  a  copy  or  copies  of  his  own  work  up 
to  the  9th  verse  of  the  last  chapter,  closing  with  the 
abrupt  words,  Theij  ivere  afraid ;  having  been  in  some 
possible  wa}',  for  a  season,  as  suggested  by  Hug, 
interrupted  there,  and  the  copjist  left  with  that  im- 
perfect record.  And  from  any  one  of  such  unfinished 
coj)ies  others  may  have  proceeded. 

But  not  one  of  them  could  give  any  possible  testi- 
mony that  ]\Iark  did  not  himself  afterwards  complete 
his  own  work,  or  that  such  completion  was  not  to  bo 
found  in  his  own  continued  autograph. 

That  autograph,  or  a  full  copy  from  it,  must  have 
been  known  to  Iren:cus;  for  all  our  manuscripts  that 
omit  the  closing  passage  arc  of  much  later  date  than 
his  era.     He  consequently  remains  a  competent  wit- 


Faith,  Doiihl,  and  Evidence.  2§ 

ness  of  wliat  was  knowu  to  exist  as  Mark's  gospel  iu 
tlie  second  century,  while  tlicy  arc  incompetent  wit- 
nesses as  to  the  passage  which  they  omit  having  never 
been  written  by  Mark.  Though  there  were  a  thou- 
sand of  them,  they  could  not  testify  that  Mark  left 
his  gospel  unfinished.  A  single  manuscript  or  ver- 
sion of  the  preceding  century,  takes  precedence  of 
a  thousand  in  the  centuries  following. 

Now^  as  to  the  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament, 
it  is  well  known  that  there  is  not  a  single  Apostolic 
Autograph  of  any  gospel  or  epistle,  or  part  of  any, 
in  existence;  nor  is  there  any  probability  that  any 
such  treasure  will  be  discovered  no  more  than  that 
the  lost  tables  of  stone  in  the  ark  of  the  Covenant  will 
be  discovered,  or  those  broken  in  pieces  by  Moses, 
though  written  with  the  finger  of  God.  The  hiding 
of  these  memorials  is  like  the  concealment  of  the  body 
and  burial-place  of  Moses  himself;  a  preservation  of 
the  people  fi-om  becoming  idolaters.  The  jjeople  that 
at  the  foot  of  Sinai  could  break  the  commandments 
of  G-od,  and  dance  to  Baal's  music,  when  God's  thun- 
ders had  hardly  ceased  reverberating,  would  after- 
wards have  kejjt,  as  objects  of  idolatrous  worshi}),  the 
granite  folios,  on  which  the  statutes  tlicy  had  violated 
were  divinely  engraven.  Impressively  does  the  reti- 
cence of  the  Scriptures,  the  silence  of  God,  declare 
their  divineness. 


26  Faith,  Doubly  and  Evidence. 

If  the  avitogi'aph  manuscripts  of  any  of  the  Evan- 
gelists bad  been  pi-eserved,  tliey  would  have  become, 
as  the  Brazen  Sei'pent,  objects  of  worshij),  not  teach- 
ei's  of  faith,  but  superstition.  And  the  Papal  Abso- 
lutism would  have  held  them  with  the  power  of  ex- 
communication, ages  earlier  than  it  ruled  the  world 
without  them.  Consider  how  it  kept  even  the  Codex 
VaticanuSw  AVTiat  a  priceless  possession  would  have 
been  one  signature  in  Paul's  handwiiting !  If  any 
church  of  the  time  of  Constantine,  ^  or  in  the  INIiddle 
Ages,  had  held  the  Epistle  to  Philemon,  /  Paul  have 
ivriUen  it  with  mine  oion  hand;  I  tvill  repay  it;  that 
church  and  its  bishops  would  have  been  the  acknowl- 
edged head  of  the  spuitual  and  litual  hierai'chy. 
There's  a  DiNdnity  in  these  aa-rangements  of  the  vis- 
ible objects  of  our  faith,  that  more  wisely  shapes  our 
ends  than  we  can  rough-hew  them  in  oiu'  reasonings, 
or  imagine  a  better  way. 


Y. 


UNCERTAINTIES    IN    THE    TRANSMISSION    OF    IVIANU- 
SCRIPTS— INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  OVER  ALL. 

One  of  the  earliest,  most  industrious,  accurate,  and 
impartiiil  of  American  historiiins,  ^Ir.  Jared  Spai'ks, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  2J 

published  iu  1833  a  volume  of  Franklin's  letters  aucl 
miscellaneous  papers,  never  before  2^1'inted,  and  wTit- 
ten  without  the  remotest  thought  on  the  part  of 
theu'  author  that  they  would  ever  be  made  pubhc. 
The  faithful  editor  remarks  on  the  little  ability  of 
Franklin's  grandson,  and  the  little  justice  as  yet 
done  to  the  subject.  "It  is  moreover  to  be  remem- 
bered," said  he,  "  with  extreme  regret,  that  Franklin's 
letter  l>ool:s,  embracing  the  entire  period  of  his  agency 
in  England  through  almost  twenty  years,  were  lost  by 
negligence  or  treachery  of  the  j^erson  to  whose  care  he 
entrusted  them  when  he  went  to  France."  Frank- 
lin's own  reputation  suffered  in  the  hands  of  some 
of  his  later  associates  and  contemporaries.  Near 
forty  A'cars  elapsed  from  the  publication  of  that  vol- 
ume by  Mr.  Sparks  to  the  discovery  and  appear- 
ance of  Franklin's  autobiography  with  Mr.  Bigelow's 
instructive  investigations.  Here  then  is  the  case  of 
the  circulation  of  printed  copies  of  a  work  for  nearly 
a  hundred  years,  and  yet  the  original  copy  not  exam- 
ined, for  verification  of  the  i)rinted  editions.  And  it  was 
almost  as  long  before  the  means  of  verification  and 
correction  came  to  the  hands  of  a  writer  able,  intel- 
ligent, impartial,  and  having  command  of  all  the  ac- 
cumulated sources  of  information  for  a  century. 

One  might  have  supposed  that  the  art  of  jirinting 
would  have  set  modern  historv  at  a  great  height  of 


28  Faitli,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

sui^eriority  above  the  precediug  ages  for  secxuity 
aud  reliableness.  But  we  see  that  it  may  also  be 
the  means  of  multijDlying  falsehoods  and  reverbera- 
tions of  them,  until  it  is  impossible  to  come  at  the 
truth.  It  may  cause  the  success  and  j)erioetuity  of 
an  error,  that  tradition  and  a  few  manuscripts  alone, 
as  the  investigator's  only  depeiidence,  would  have 
jDrevented.  The  uncertainties  and  grounds  of  scep- 
ticism exist  where  there  is  not  only  printing  in  jier- 
fection,  but  the  most  unbounded  issue,  circulation, 
perusal,  and  comjiarison  of  copies  and  editions. 

In  the  greatest  enlightenment  of  an  age  of  "  un- 
licensed, that  is,  free  and  unfettered  jirinting,"  we 
see:  1st.  The  uncertainty  that  may  attend  the  exist- 
ence and  transmission  of  the  most  unquestionably 
authentic  manuscripts  the  world  has  ever  known. 
2d.  The  difficulty  of  determining  which,  of  a  num- 
ber of  copies  to  be  printed  from,  was  the  earliest 
known,  and  which  was  reaUy  the  first,  the  original 
of  all  the  others.  3d.  In  view  of  existing  discov- 
ered variations,  which  copy  is  most  correct,  or  which 
was  cojiied,  ^dth  the -variations,  from  the  other.  And, 
4th,  it  is  i>lain  that  in  the  case  of  omission  of  any 
lioition  or  portions,  ike  pas^acje  wanlinfj  in  some  copies 
may  never  have  been  in  ex-idence  at  all  in  the  very  first 
copy  ever  knovm  and  U!<ed  for  iwintiny,  the  first  that 
"was    quoted    or    described    or    translated.     And    aU 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  2g 

tills  time,  Avliile  cojiies  innumerable,  and  of  succes- 
sive editions  and  dates,  may  Lave  been  j^rinted,  mul- 
tii)lied,  and  circulated,  xnlh  that  oml-ision,  the  original 
and  true  manuscript  may  have  existed,  unknoAvai, 
unconsulted,  contalaiim  the  omilted  ^m-s-so^c,  written 
out  plainly,  and  in  full,  in  the  same  handwrit- 
ing as  at  the  beginning.  The  whole  history  magni- 
fies the  importance  of  internal  evidence,  and  illustrates 
the  hazard  of  dogmatic  pronouncements,  xchelhcr 
grounded  on  priorilg  of  dates,  or  exiding  variations. 

All  oiu-  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  are 
of  a  later  date  by  centuries  than  the  life  of  the 
apostles,  eye-witnesses,  and  actors.  Of  course  they 
are  all  copies.  In  some  of  them  there  are  omis- 
sions of  important  passages  contained  by  other  copies; 
passages  that  contain  as  convincing  evidence  of  be- 
longing to  the  original  autograjih,  if  that  manu- 
script could  suddenly  be  produced,  as  the  eight 
Images  of  Franldin's  manuscript  omitted  in  all  the 
printed  coj)ies  of  his  work  for  near  a  hiindred 
years.  Even  if  those  passages  were  found  in  only 
one  or  two  of  the  manuscripts,  this  would  go  much 
further  to  prove  that  they  were  coj^ied  from  some 
earUer  and  more  authentic  manuscrii)t,  than  that 
they  were  forged.  There  is  no  adequate  reason 
for  the  forgery.  At  any  rate,  the  internal  evidence 
fi'om   the   passages  themselves,   taken  in   connection 


JO  JFailh,  Do2ibi,  and  Evidence. 

with  the  fact  that  the  manuscripts  in  which  they  are 
found  are  as  authoritative  as  any  in  which  they 
are  not  found,  is  sufficient  to  remove  objections. 


YL 


LESSONS  FROM  FRANKLIN'S  AUTOGRAPHY  AS  TO 
THE  CLOSE   OF  ^L\RK'S   GOSPEL. 

A  suggestive  and  instructive  light  may  he  thrown 
from  this  omitted  passage  at  the  close  of  the  auto- 
graph in  Franldin's  Memou's  not  only  ui^on  the  vexed 
questions  concerning  the  close  of  Mark's  gospel,  but 
also  the  opening  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  John's.  The 
questionable  passage  in  Mark,  the  disputed  passage, 
includes  the  twelve  closing  verses  of  his  gospel. 
"Without  these  verses  the  gosjiel  is  iucomi)lete,  and 
ends  so  abruj^tly,  tliat  beyond  question  it  could  not 
so  have  been  left  by  its  author.  Yet  it  was  want- 
ing in  the  majority  of  the  Greek  manuscripts  as 
late  as  the  era  of  Jerome,  a.  d.  370,  though  found 
in  main/  of  cqxnl  aalhorili/.  But  the  fact  is  quite  de- 
cisive of  its  eivrly  existence,  that  Ireuteus,  the  disci- 
ple of  Polycai'p,  and  bishoj)  of  Lyons,  a.  d.  177,  re- 
fers to  it  absolutely  as  a  part  of  ]Mark's  gospel,  and 
quotes  fi"om  it  the  nineteeutli  verse,  with  the  words, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  j/ 


J/i  fine  aulem,  EmngeUl,  ait  Marcus,  but  in  the  end  of 
the  goKpel  3Iark  saith.  This  testimony  is  conclusive  as 
to  the  fact  that  in  the  carlicd  Lnou-n  period  a  manu- 
script of  such  weiglit  as  to  be  quoted  as  authority 
had  this  lohole  chapter,  and  there  is  no  evidence  what- 
ever of  any  manuscript  being-  then  in  existence  with- 
out it. 

This  testimony  is  presented  by  Lardner  from  Irc- 
nsous  as  follows:  "Wherefore  also  jMark,  the  inter- 
preter and  follower  of  Peter,  makes  this  the  begin- 
ning of  his  evangelic  writing;  the  beginning  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son  of  God.  And  in 
the  end  of  the  gospel  Mark  says,  So  then  the  Lord 
Jesus,  after  He  had  spoken  to  them,  was  received  up 
into  heaven,  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 

This  is  very  convincing:  1st.  As  giving  no  intima- 
tion of  there  being  any  other  MS.  of  Mark's  gospel 
then  in  existence  without  the  whole  of  what  stands 
as  the  closing  chapter.  2d.  As  making  it  quite  cer- 
tain that  Irenaeus  himself  knew  not  of  any  supposition 
of  any  part  of  that  chapter  ever  having  been  wanting. 
3d.  That  no  one  in  that  age  had  discovered  or  im- 
agined any  mark  of  diliereuce  in  style  or  language 
between  the  last  twelve  vei-ses,  and  the  previous  fif- 
teen chapters.  4th.  That  Irenfeus  himself  was  as 
sure  of  the  end  being  Mark's  as  he  was  of  the 
beginninfr. 


J2  Faith,  Doicbi,  and  Evidence. 

Such  a  thing  as  families  of  iiianuscrii>ts  Avere  not 
then  known,  nor  is  there  for  a  long  time  any  indi- 
cation of  any  ^IS.  of  ]Mark  different  in  any  respect 
from  that  in  possession  of  IrenaiHS,  or  of  any  church 
in  his  age.  The  Peshito-Sp'iac  version  has  the  pas- 
sage; and  against  these  two  authorities  no  successive 
accumulation  of  witnesses  can  prevail.  The  passage 
stands,  and  none  other  than  Mark  ajjpears  as  its 
author. 

Gregoiy  of  Nyssa,  in  Cappadocia,  a.  d.  370,  says, 
in  his  second  Homily  on  the  Resurrection,  "tliat  in 
the  most  exact  copies,  St.  Mai'k's  gosjiel  concluded 
with  these  words  (ch.  xvL  8),  Tor  they  were  afi-aid.' 
But  in  some  copies  it  was  added,  verse  nine,  'Now 
when  Jesus  was  risen  early,  the  first  day  of  the 
-week.  He  appeared  first  to  Maiy  Magdalene';  and 
the  verses  following.  He  proceeds  to  reconcile  these 
verses  with  the  somewhat  diii'ering  accounts  in  Mat- 
thew, Luke,  and  John.  Mill  says,  that  this  Father 
is  the  first  who  has  taken  any  notice  of  this  various 
reading  at  the  end  of  Mai'k's  gospel."  (See  Lardner 
on  Gregory  Nyssen,  AVorks,  vol.  4,  pj).  2i)5,  298.) 

Compare  also  the  remarks  of  Hag  (section  75,  of 
his  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament),  on  the  end- 
ing of  Mark's  gospel.  Jerome  says  that  in  some 
Greek  MSS.  "there  occurred  an  important  various 
reading  after  the  fourteenth  verse,  showing  that  there 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  jj 

xoere  not  xmntuvj  numerous  MSS.  xohich  contained  the  dia- 
2n(led  jxniion."  And  Jerome  affirms  that  because  the 
jiassage  contained  some  thing's  not  easily  to  be  rec- 
oncih'd  Avith  the  other  gospels,  therefore  it  was  re- 
jected. "But  the  jjreiDOsterous  nature,"  saj's  Hug,  "of 
such  a  termination  of  Mark,  at  the  eighth  verse,  Avas 
joerceiAcd  cA'en  by  the  Greeks  who  did  not  receive 
the  added  Aerses."  He  proceeds  to  quote  the  opin- 
ion of  Griesbach,  that  it  is  incredible  that  Mark 
could  have  so  abi-uptly  finished  his  gospel;  in  fact 
left  it  unfinished.  "How  could  the  conclusion  of 
the  book  disappear,  and  the  circumstance  be  imno- 
ticed?  It  must  have  attracted  attention.  If  it  hap- 
pened before  copies  had  been  taken,  ]\Iark  might 
easil}'  have  remedied  it,  and  was  bound  to  do  so; 
if  it  occuiTcd  after  copies  Avere  taken,  the  genuine 
conclusion  must  at  least  have  been  preserved  in 
some  manuscripts,  and  must  it  not  be  the  one 
which  Ave  noAv  liaA-e?" — Hug's  Int.,  75,  p.  471). 

If  auA'  one  desires  to  know  the  impression  which 
must  have  been  made  by  an  imfinished  coi>y  of 
this  gospel,  closing  AA'ith  the  recorded  terror  of  the 
disciples,  he  has  only  to  ojien  the  Book  of  the 
New  Covenant,  by  Granville  Penn,  in  1830,  "being 
a  critical  revision  of  the  text  and  translation  of 
the  English  Version  of  the  NeAV  Testament,  Avith  the 
aid   of   the   most   ancient    manuscripts,   unknown  to 


J/  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  age  in  whicli  that  version  was  last  put  forth  by 
authority." 

This  book  was  followed  by  a  valuable  volume  of 
annotations,  learned,  critical,  and  suggestive,  in  sup- 
port of  the  author's  own  emendations  and  opinions. 
His  corrections  are  not  always  improvements,  some- 
times far  otherwise;  and  what  he  says  of  the  labors  of 
the  learned  Scholz  for  an  established  true  text,  may 
as  well  be  applied  to  himseK,  namely,  that  "  his 
readers  are  convinced  that  some  of  his  decisions 
have  been  aUorjellier  erroneous;  for  he  can  not  impart 
to  them  that  incommunicable  momentum, — the  hypolhc- 
sid's x>amon  for  his  own  hypolhesis." 

Scholz's  edition  of  the  gospels  in  1830  was  the 
latest  work  to  wliich  Penn  could  refer.  Tischen- 
dorf's  discoveries  had  not  then  been  made,  nor 
those  researches,  that  for  the  last  forty  years,  with 
such  prodigious  industr}^  and  erudition,  have  been 
pursued  by  the  army  of  textual  critics  working  in  the 
same  field.  And  so,  Penn  supposed  that  "Scholz's 
active  and  laborious  gleanings  prove  that  we  had 
already  gathered  in  all  the  grain  tliat  has  come  down 
to  us  from  Christian  Antiquity,  and  that  nothing  now 
remains  in  the  field  but  the  stubble  of  the  harvest." 

But  in  Scholz's  oiiinion  the  last  chapter  of  Mark's 
gosjiel  was  a  jmrt  of  that  golden  groin,  never  to  be 
driven  away  as  chafi',  or  burned  as  stubble.     An  abso- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  J5 

lute  settlement  of  the  text  is  j^ossMe,  putting  it  be- 
yond the  reach  of  conjectural  flailsmen,  with  their 
new  threshing  instruments,  I  have  dreamed,  I  have 
dreamed.  "The  i^-ophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let 
him  tell  a  di-eam;  and  he  that  hath  my  word,  let 
him  speak  my  word  faithfully.  What  is  the  chaff  to 
the  wheat?  saith  the  Lord."  Jer.  xxiii.  28,  29.  "He 
will  not  ahcaysi  be  tlu'eshing  it,  for  his  God  doth  in- 
struct him  to  discretion,  and  doth  teach  him."  Is. 
xxviii.  26,  28.  The  threshing,  and  all  other  processes, 
are  onAj  for  the  puri:>ose  of  securing  genuine  "seed 
for  the  sower  and  bread  for  the  eater"  unto  all 
generations. 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  the  account  of  his  "  Journey  to  the 
Western  Isles  of  Scotland,"  makes  this  pithy  remark. 
"  If  we  know  Httle  of  the  ancient  Highlanders,  let  us 
not  fill  the  vacuUi/  with  0.isian.  If  we  have  not 
searched  the  Magellanic  regions,  let  us  forbear  to 
people  them  with  Patagons.  To  be  ignorant  is  pain- 
ful; but  it  is  dangerous  to  quiet  our  uneasiness,  by 
the  delusive  oj^iate  of  hasty  persuasion." 

The  men  did  diligentiy  obsei-ve,  and  did  hadihj 
catch  it;  so  did  Ahab,  and  received  sentence  accord- 
ingly. The  thoughts  of  every  one  that  is  hasty  tend 
only  to  want.  The  sacred  proverbs  are  good  for  con- 
sultation in  the  matter  of  manuscripts,  as  in  eveiy 
other  business.     That  which  was  rejected  by  some 


^6  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

as  stubble  may  be  fountl  by  others  fiiH  of  divine 
seed. 

From  the  second  century  downwards  we  know  that 
the  conclusion  of  this  gospel  existed  as  Mark's.  It 
could  not  have  been  admitted  as  such,  in  Mark's  life- 
time, without  Mark's  authorship,  as  a  sui"»plement 
to  what  he  had  left  unfinished.  And  after  his  death, 
what  forger  could  haA'e  added  it  in  his  name,  with- 
out discover^-,  even  if  possessed  of  the  ability  of  com- 
posing so  artful  and  j)robable  a  completion  of  the 
narrative  ?  The  authority  of  an  inspiration  the  same 
as  Mark's  would  have  to  be  assumed  and  sustained 
by  the  writer. 

And  meantime  there  is  no  testimony,  in  manuscript 
or  version  or  Father  of  that  date,  that  it  was  not  a  con- 
clusion originally  written  by  ]\Iark.  It  is  impossible 
to  understand  what  some  critics  can  mean  in  saying 
that  its  transmission  has  been  accompanied  by  a  con- 
tinuous testimony  that  it  was  not  a  part  of  Mark's 
original  writing.  There  is  no  such  testimony  trans- 
mitted or  knoAvn;  but  on  the  contrai'y  the  words  of 
Irenajus  are  an  iindisputed  record,  the  earliest  in  ex- 
istence in  regard  to  Mark's  gosjiel,  that  it  xms  received 
as  jNIark's  and  none  other's,  even  to  the  end. 

Some  manuscripts  afterwards  omitting  it,  and  cop- 
ied from  age  to  age,  are  not  "  a  continuous  testi- 
mony "  that   it   was    not   ]\Iark's    ovujinallij,    but    only 


Faith.,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  jj 

that,  from  whomsoever  it  originated,  it  was  omitted 
in  some  copies,  no  one  can  tell  when. 

A  manuscrijit  in  possession  of  Irenssas,  containing 
the  section  omitted  at  a  later  period  after  his  time 
in  other  manuscripts,  would  be  equivalent  to  the 
production  of  the  autograph  of  Franklin  in  posses- 
sion of  M.  le  Veillard.  The  only  difficulty  is  how 
to  account  for  the  passage  being  left  out  at  all  in 
any  manuscripts  of  later  date,  while  it  was  certainly 
retained  in  a  succession  of  the  more  perfect  and 
authoritative  copies  downwards  through  the  centu- 
ries. Dean  Alford  supposes  that  the  lost  leaf  of  the 
original  gospel  a^  Mark  lorote  it,  was  torn  away,  and 
then  the  passage  was  replaced,  as  a  completion  of 
the  gospel,  soon  after  the  apodolic  period.  But  who 
excej)ting  Mark  himself  could  have  replaced  it,  if  it 
was  absolutely  lost?  And  that  it  was  not  lost  at  the 
time  of  Irena!us"s  reference  to  it  is  proved  by  his 
quotation  from  it,  an  a  then  known  part  of  Mark's 
goipel.  As  to  internal  evidence  against  it,  there  is 
not  any  that  wiU  stand  consideration;  one  might  as 
easily  contrive  an  argument  against  Franklin's  eight 
last  pages  on  the  ground  of  there  being  in  them  a 
greater  proportion  of  large  words  and  fewer  idio- 
matic exi>ressions  than  belonged  to  Franklin's  style; 
or,  because  the  wovds  Jlinistj,  naurjhly,  l>cckoning,  and 
vica  voce,  occur,  and  ptocket-inslriictions.     Or  because 


jS  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  single  word  Jlimt^y,  found  in  these  eight  pages, 
occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  autobiography. 

There  is  internal  evidence  in  its  favor,  besides  the 
necessity  of  the  case;  the  imjiossibility  of  a  memoir 
so  terse,  pithy,  and  entire  as  this,  having  ever  been 
committed  to  a  church,  or  as  we  say,  given  to  the 
public,  without  a  conclusion ;  and  as  it  were  in 
the  midst  of  a  sentence,  in  the  flight,  amazement, 
and  fear  of  the  two  Marys  and  Salome  running 
from  the  sepulchre.  It  is  not  essential  for  us  to 
know  b}'  what  accident  or  wilfulness  or  carelessness 
the  missing  verses  may  have  disappeared,  may  not 
have  been  added  to  some  particular  coj^y;  and  then 
that  defective  copy  may  itself  have  been  coi^ied.  It 
is  enough,  if  afterwards  the  whole  manuscript  is 
found,  and  has  been  quoted  as  the  gospel  of  Mark, 
and  a  text  given  from  the  missing  verses  as  of  the 
same  authority  with  the  whole.  It  is  like  the  case 
of  a  river  disappearing  and  running  under-ground. 
It  is  not  necessary  for  yon  to  make  the  under- 
ground passage  in  order  to  prove  that  it  is  the 
same  river.  You  may  analyze  the  water;  you  may 
catch  the  fish;  you  may  dredge  the  bottom;  and 
because  you  do  not  know  the  convulsion  by  which 
nor  the  time  when  the  river  disajjpeared  3'ou  are 
not  on  that  account  comi^elled  to  deny  or  doubt  its 
personal  identity. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  jg 


TIL 

LESSONS  AS   TO  JOIIX  viii.   1-12— THE   CON'JECTURES 
OF  CRITICS. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  other  questioned 
passage  in  John's  gosjDel,  the  opening  of  the  eighth 
chapter,  the  wonderful,  inestimably  precious  account 
of  Christ's  judgment  of  the  accusers  of  the  woman 
taken  in  adultery.  If  the  painting  of  the  Transfig- 
uration by  Raphael  were  brought  in  question  as  to 
its  author,  it  would  be  as  possible  for  critics  to  deny 
the  mai'ks  of  his  genius  in  it,  and  to  prove  that  it 
must  have  been  the  work  of  some  other  painter,  as 
for  a  critic  of  the  New  Testament  to  prove  that  the 
narrative  of  the  woman  was  not  written  by  the  apos- 
tle John,  but  in  another  style  and  in  different  lan- 
guage from  his.  Yet  as  much  as  this  has  been 
asserted  of  the  passage.  It  has  even  been  conject- 
ured, by  way  of  accounting  for  its  absence  from 
some  manuscripts,  as  well  as  its  appearance  in  the 
received  text,  that  the  evangelist  John  may  have 
incorporated  a  portion  of  the  cuvvcnt  oral  Iradition 
into  his  narratioe,  and  that  this  portion  may  have 
been  afterwards  variouKbj  conrclcd  from  another  r/os- 
pel,    and   that,   heinrj   seen   in  early   times  to   be  alien 


40  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

from  Johns  diction,  it  may  have  been  inserted  at 
the  end  of  Luke  xxi. 

Here  the  critic,  who  is  none  less  than  Dean  Alford, 
affirms  the  entire  divcr.sitij  from  the  style  of  narra- 
tive of  our  evangehst,  and  yet  supposes  him  to 
have  adopted  a  portion  of  the  current  oral  tradition 
into  Jiis  narrative.  But  the  question  comes  up,  from 
whom  did  he  receive  that  tradition,  and  on  what 
evidence,  and  tvhose  style  and  language  except  Jiis  own 
could  he  be  supjwsed  to  have  adopted  in  writing  out  the 
incident?  Or  can  it  he  imagined  that  John  com- 
posed his  gospel  from  traditionary  accounts,  con- 
cerning Christ,  instead  of  relating  what  he  himself 
knew  as  an  eye-witness,  or  received  by  divine  inspi- 
ration ?  If  inserted  at  the  end  of  Luke  xxi.,  why 
is  it  not  there  still?  How  could  the  removal  from 
Lvike  and  the  insertion  in  John  have  been  accom- 
l^lished,  consistently  with  the  integrity  of  either  gos- 
pel as  then  known  ? 

Even  if  he  took  a  running  tradition,  of  which  he 
is  thus  supi^osed  to  have  known  nothing  when  he 
wrote  the  tirst  copy  of  his  own  narrative,  must 
he  not  inevitably  have  put  the  tradition  into  his 
own  habitual  form  and  manner  of  composition '?  If 
it  was  a  fragnient  (f  writing,  and  not  a  tradition,  that 
he  copied  out,  and  inserted  into  his  own  gosi)el,  then 
that   aujjposes   the    pre-cxistence    of   another    narra- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  41 

tive,  contaiuing  iinpoi'tant  notices  of  oixi-  Lord's  life, 
with  wliicli  John  had  never  before  been  made  ac- 
quainted, nor  any  one  of  the  evangelists,  who  are 
supposed  to  have  written  earlier  than  himself.  And 
yet  John  says,  concerning  his  own  gospel,  "  ]\[any 
other  signs  truly  did  Jesus,  in  the  presence  of  His 
disciples,  which  are  not  written  in  this  book;  but 
these  are  written,  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that,  believing, 
ye  might  have  hfe  through  His  name."  The  argu- 
ment here  seems  manifestly  to  be  that  nothing  was 
written  by  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  from  tradition 
merely,  nothing  but  what  was  done  by  Him  in 
their  presence,  so  that  they  should  be  eye-ivilnesses, 
as  well  as  recorders  of  what  they  had  seen  and 
known.  There  were  many  other  tilings,  John  said, 
that  were  never  written,  but  these  ivcre  wriUen,  as 
essential  grounds  for  a  confident  belief  in  Christ. 
"  That  which  was  fi'om  the  beginning,  which  we 
have  heard,  which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes, 
which  we  have  looked  uj^on,  and  our  hands  have 
handled  of  the  Woi'd  of  Life;  that  which  we  have 
seen  and  heard  declai'e  we  unto  you,  that  ye  also 
may  have  fellowship  with  us;  and  truly  our  fellow- 
ship is  with  the  Father  and  with  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ.  And  these  tilings  icrile  we  unto  you,  that 
your  joy  may  be  full." — I  John  i.  1-1.     The  empha- 


^2  Faith,  Doiibl,  and  Evidence. 

sis  is  marked,  and  repeated  iii  all  Joliu's  composi- 
tions. "This  is  the  record.  These  things  have  / 
wriUen,  that  ye  may  kxow." 

It  stands  there  as  John's.  This  is  the  declaration 
to  all  who  find  it  in  the  book.  Now  on  a  verdict 
being  demanded  by  the  judge  he  always  j^^its  the 
doubt  to  the  favor  of  the  accused,  not  against  him. 
Sceptics  and  rationalists,  in  dealing  with  the  Scrij^jt- 
ures  adoi)t  the  reverse  of  this  as  the  rule  of  their 
criticism.  Charity  and  mercy  being  turned  out  of 
court,  doubt  itself  is  assumed  as  evidence,  and  rea- 
soning from  conjecture  is  resorted  to  in  accounting 
for  the  manner  in  which  the  accused  j^assage  got 
into  its  authoritative  place. 

It  stands  there  as  John's.  The  verdict  of  cumu- 
lative belief  through  many  ages,  on  some  good  evi- 
dence, has  set  it  there.  It  commends  itself  to  the 
heart,  the  conscience,  the  reason,  as  a  self-eviden- 
cing and  exquisite  reality  in  the  life  and  example 
of  Jesus.  Had  it  been  proposed  to  the  wit,  intelli- 
gence, and  charity  of  the  whole  world  to  continue 
twelve  verses  containing  internal  evidence  sufficient 
to  carry  the  heart  and  mind  of  all  Christendom, 
and  all  generous  judges,  as  certainly  divine,  nothing 
could  have  been  offered  to  compare  with  this.  It 
could  never  have  been  written  so  early  as  its  first 
appearance,   by   any   uninspired   man.     There  is  no 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ^j 

motive  for  it,  considerecl  as  a  forgeiy.  The  wit- 
nesses for  it  are  many  and  unimpeacLed.  Only  its 
absence  from  many  manuscrii)ts  gives  opportunity 
for  conjecture  that  it  may  possibly  not  have  been 
of  John's  own  writing. 

Who  now  shall  venture,  or  by  what  arguments 
or  evidence,  to  exclude  this  passage,  thus  anathema- 
tizing it  as  a  forgery?  But  it  must  be  either  that, 
or  divine.  If  divine,  it  comes  under  the  protecting 
sweep  of  the  clause  at  the  end  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures,  as  well  as  the  forewarning  clause 
in  the  Pentateuch.  Add  not,  diminish  not,  for  the 
AVord  is  (xod's. 

If  permitted  to  stand,  it  must  be  without  a  mark 
of  suspicion  upon  it.  Any  such  indication  would 
be  lUcc  sending  an  inmate  of  Sing  Sing  into  so- 
ciety, with  his  prison  suit  upon  him.  Let  every 
man  beware  of  this  supposed  convict.  It  would 
thus  be  an  insult  upon  common  sense  and  rever- 
ence to  put  any  passage  retained  in  the  Scriptures 
in  brackets.  It  would  go  far  to  admit  that  we  can 
not  be  sure  in  regard  to  any  part  of  Scrijiturc,  but 
that  every  man  must  and  may  receive  it  on  man's 
authority,  not  God's.  It  is  not  a  question  of  a  pos- 
sible various  reading,  which  may  be  set  in  the  mar- 
gin without  accusation  of  the  text.  But  it  creates 
suspicion,   and  admits  within  the  text   the   presence 


^^  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

of  the  detective,  as  if  for  the  protection  of  every 
Christiau  reader. 

It  must  stand  fair,  if  at  all,  in  any  received  version. 
Not  that  there  is  no  farther  ai)i)eal,  or  possible  re- 
hearing of  the  case,  on  new  discovered  evidence.  But 
until  such  come  to  light,  the  character  of  the  witness 
is  good.  Who  can  bring  any  thing  against  it  ?  "Who 
can  imagine  any  thing?  Who  can  bring  any  proof 
of  such  early  tamperiugs  with  a  completed  cojDy  of 
any  one  of  the  original  gospels  ?  Who  can  give  any 
reason  for  such  an  attempted  interpolation  ?  Or  any 
other  example  of  the  introduction  of  a  i)aragraph  af- 
firmed to  be  so  unconnected  with  the  tenor  of  the 
narrative,  and  requiring  an  omniscient  inspiration  for 
its  continuance  ? 

It  has  been  interrupted  with  the  brief  note  that 
every  man  of  Christ's  hearers  of  the  preceding  dis- 
cussion went  unto  his  own  house,  and  Jesus  unto  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  Then,  in  the  freshness  of  tlie  morn- 
ing light,  He  is  again  in  the  temple,  teaching  the 
people. 

At  what  point  and  how  shall  He  renew  with  tliem 
the  reasoning  of  the  preceding  evening,  so  fuU  of 
interest  and  imjiortance  as  to  His  claims  as  the  INIes- 
siah,  the  King  of  Israel  and  Saviour  of  the  world,  the 
Intei'preter  of  the  written  Law  of  God,  but  not  now 
the  Accuser,  nor  the  final  Judge  of  men  by  that  law. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ^5 

but  their  Advocate  and  Intercessor  before  God,  the 
Searcher  of  all  hearts  and  consciences. 

AYhat  providence  brought  the  woman  and  her  ac- 
cusers into  His  presence  ?  And  what  uninspired  mind 
could  possibly  have  foreseen  the  course  of  the  investi- 
gation, or  the  wisdom  and  mercy  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
conducting  it,  and  bringing  out  in  so  graphic  a  dis- 
tinctness the  characters  and  passions  of  the  rulers 
and  the  i>coi)le,  and  His  own  authority  as  the  light  of 
the  world;  so  that  whosoever  followed  Him  should 
not  walk  in  darkness,  but  should  have  the  light  of 
life.  The  characteristic  event,  and  the  use  the  Lord 
Jesus  made  of  it,  could  never  have  been  forged;  much 
less  inserted  in  the  narrative  by  any  but  an  eye-wit- 
ness, and  a  sympathizer  with  the  heart,  and  a  reader 
of  the  mind  of  Christ.  Who  would  presume  to  stand 
in  John's  place,  for  such  record,  in  John's  life-tinie  ? 

Sujiposing  it  to  have  bean  an  interpolation,  who 
could  have  dared  to  insert  it  in  an  apostolic  manu- 
script ?  And  if  it  was  not  originally  found  in  the  text, 
wliy  should  this  place  of  all  others  have  been  selected 
for  its  insertion? 

For  Alford  affirms  an  "entire  iinconnection "  with 
the  context,  and  "entire  diversity"  from  John's  style; 
and  yet  afterward  shows  us  "a  way  out  of  the  enig- 
ma," that  is,  that  John  himf^eJf  may  have  incorporated 
this  disconnected  and  entirely  diverse  portion  into  his 


46  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

narrative,  in  this  very  place;  from  which  it  was  after- 
wards, by  some  unknown  detective  of  its  ahen  style, 
removed,  and  set  in  a  better  supposed  connection  and 
chronolog-y  in  the  synoptic  narrative,  at  the  end  of 
Luke  xxi. 


YIII. 


ALFORD   AND   LIGHTFOOT— EUSEBIUS  AND   LARD- 
NER— FROPOSED   TREATMENT   BY   BRACKETS. 

Prof.  Lightfoot,  in  his  Essay  on  a  fresh  Revision  of 
the  New  Testament,  "ventures  a  conjecture,"  going 
in  some  respects  beyond  Dean  Alford's,  and  sui^jios- 
ing  that  both  the  close  of  the  gospel  of  Mark,  and 
the  opening  section  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  John, 
"  were  due  to  that  knot  of  early  discij^les  who  gath- 
ered about  John  in  Asia  Miiior,  and  must  have  jire- 
served  more  than  one  tiaie  tradition  of  the  Lord's  life, 
and  of  the  earliest  days  of  the  Church,  of  which  some 
at  least  had  been  themselves  eye-witnesses." 

We  ask  inevitably  whether  these  suppositions  do 
not  tax  our  credulity  beyond  what  is  reasonable;  con- 
jecturing the  presence  of  discijDles  gathered  around 
John,  at  a  period  after  all  the  gospels  are  supposed 
to   have   been  written,   possessing  traditions  of  our 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ^y 


Lord's  savings,  and  life,  tnie,  aud  important  enough 
to  liave  been  inserted  in  the  sacred  books,  but  not 
found  there;  and  John  aud  Mark  being  informed  of 
them  for  the  pm-pos3  of  such  insertion,  and  on  the 
gi-ound  of  this  new  information,  putting  those  tradi- 
tions into  theu'  own  wiitings? 

Yet  this  is  the  hypothesis  of  Alford,  namely,  "  that 
the  Evangehst  may  have  incorporated  a  portion  of  the 
current  oral  tradition  into  his  nai'rative."  If  this  is  also 
the  meaning  of  Prof.  Lightfoot,  there  are  some  ques- 
tions, and  contradictions  in  the  j^roposed  h^-potheses, 
more  impossible  of  solution  than  any  difficulties  en- 
countered m  the  gospel  narratives. 

For  Ave  are  commended  to  traditions  as  being  time, 
in  possession  of  imagined  early  disciples,  concerning 
whom  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  of  them  having 
been  eye-witnesses — "oral  tradilions,"  as  supposed  by 
Alford,  adopted  by  the  Evangelist,  "  and  afterwards  cor- 
rected from  the  gospel  of  the  Hebrews  (unknown 
what  it  was),  or  other  traditional  soiu'ces."  And  Prof. 
Lightfoot  refers  to  one  of  these  traditions  cOs  being 
that  of  Papias,  a  disciple  of  this  school  that  gathered 
about  St.  John,  and  as  being  "the  account  of  the 
woman  taken  in  adultery,  kno^vn  to  have  been  related  by 
Pajiias." 

Now  the  whole  of  what  is  related  by  Papias  is  given 
by  Eusebius   as  follows:    "He   relates   also    another 


^(5*  Faith,  Do2ibt,  and  Evidence, 

story,  of  a  womau  accused  of  mam^  crimes  before  the 
Lord,  Avliicli  is  contained  in  the  gospel  according  to 
the  HebreAvs." — Larduer  on  Papias,  giving  the  chap- 
ter in  full  from  Eusebius,  Vol.  2,  pp.  119,  124.  See 
also  Trcgelles  on  the  Printed  Text  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 242. 

This  is  absolutely  all  the  foundation  there  is  for 
affirming  this  story  to  have  been  that  in  John's  gosi:)el, 
or  for  believing  that  it  ever  came  from  any  knot  of 
early  disciples  gathered  around  John.  Even  sup^jos- 
ing  that  it  did,  and  was  really  the  tradition  concern- 
ing this  woman;  what  then  follows? 

Those  early  disciples,  if  eye-witnesses,  must  have 
lived  longer  than  John  himself,  if  their  traditions  were 
put  into  his  gospel  after  his  death,  at  their  sugges- 
tion. If  put  into  his  gosjiel  by  himself  from  tradi- 
tions delivered  by  them  to  him,  what  are  we  to  think 
of  John's  own  testimony  (John  xxi.  30,  31),  that  he 
himself  knew  of  "  many  other  signs  done  by  Jesus, 
in  the  presence  of  the  discijiles,  which  are  nol  vrUlcn 
in  this  book;  but  these  arc  written,  that  ye  maj'  be- 
lieve," etc.  And  in  I  John  i.  1-4:  "That  whifiji  we 
have  heard,  and  seen  with  ovn*  eyes;"  our  mm,  and 
liot  another's.  And  so,  II  Peter  i.  Ki:  "Eye-wit- 
nesses of  His  majest}',  and  not  following  cunningly 
devised  fables."  Is  there  anywhere  so  much  as  an 
intimation  of  any  things  in  any  of  the  gospels  hav- 


Faith,  Doiibty  and  Evidence.  ^g 

ing  beeu  delivered  at  second-hand;  or  put  in  -oTiting 
at  the  mouth  of  any  but  those  "who  from  the  begin- 
ning were  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  Word  ?  " 
Luke  i.  2,  a%  cipx^l^  ccutoTtvai  xat  vnTjpitat  .tov  Xoyov. 

Not  a  hint  can  be  found  in  the  New  Testament  of 
the  inspired  writers  receiving  their  materials  from 
tradition,  but  many  cautions  against  it,  "  lest  any 
man  sjioil  you  after  the  tradition  of  men." — Col.  ii.  8. 
But  in  the  j^resent  case  of  the  supposed  knot  of  dis- 
ciples, did  John  receive  the  tradition  fi-om  them,  or 
they  from  him?  Did  he  put  it  in  his  go.spel,  in  their 
language,  or  in  his  own  ?  If  John  wrote  it,  in  what- 
ever style,  it  was  an  integral  portion  of  his  original 
gosi^el.  Yet  Prof.  Lightfoot  says  that  evidence  ex- 
ternal and  internal  is  against  its  being  so  regarded, 
though  wheucesoever  it  comes  it  seems  to  bear  on 
its  face  the  highest  credentials  of  authentic  history. 

But  how  can  that  be  authentic,  which  under  pre- 
tence of  inspu'ation,  is  not  inspired?  Or  which  be- 
ing judged  in  early  times  to  be  alien  from  John's 
style  was  afterwards  varioiisty  corrected  and  put  in 
another  situation?  Would  any  of  the  apostles  have 
presumed  thus  to  tamper  with  each  other's  produc- 
tions? Or  were  the  critics  of  the  apostolic  period 
such  profound  judges  of  the  shades  of  original  dic- 
tion ?  Or  did  the  running  publishers  of  those  days 
tidie  liberties  with  the  original  autographs  entrusted 


50  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

to  their  care,  such  as  the  grandson  of  Franklin  is 
proved  to  have  taken,  in  altering  the  autobiography 
of  his  illustrious  ancestor? 

To  many  minds  the  evidence  both  external  and  in- 
ternal protects  both  Mark  and  John  fi'om  such  con- 
jectiu'es.  The  passage  in  John  is  found  in  more  than 
three  hundred  cnrsive  manuscripts.  Under  Jerome's 
knowledge,  it  was  in  many  codices,  both  Greek  and 
Latin.  It  is  eminently  Christ-hke,  as  Prof.  Schaff 
most  truly  remaa-ks,  and  full  of  comfort  to  penitent 
outcasts.  It  also  presents  ta-uly  the  conduct  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  in  trying  Jesus  with  ensnar- 
ing questions,  but  breathes  the  Saviours  spu'it  of 
holy  mercy,  which  condemns  the  sin  and  siives  the 
sinner.  The  internal  evidence  therefore,  and  the 
moral,  as  well  as  a  good  amount  of  positive  critical 
evidence,  is  in  its  favor.  So  far  fi-om  there  being 
any  authority  for  having  it  bracketed  or  omitted  as 
spurious  or  doubtful,  such  a  treatment  of  the  text 
on  the  pfu't  of  any  committeeship  of  modern  schol- 
ars would  be  an  intrusion  on  the  rights  of  Chris- 
tendom. Any  man  or  church  or  company  of  revis- 
ers that  shall  attempt  to  strike  out  fi'om  the  Enghsh 
Bible  the  tdosing  verses  of  the  hxst  chapter  oi  Mark, 
or  the  lu'st  eleven  verses  of  the  eighth  chaj^ter  of 
John,  may  be  sure  to  encounter  an  intelligent  and 
conscientious  opposition. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  5/ 


IX. 


CONNECTION  AND  CONGRUITY— INTERNAL  EVIDENCE 

OF  INTEGRITY,   AND   IMPROBABILITIES 

OF  FORGERY. 

The  most  unlearned  Euglish  reader  maj'  judge  of 
the  argumeut  from  the  context,  as  competently  and 
fairly  as  the  profoundest  scholar.  The  indications 
are  sometimes  far  to  seek,  and  the  trains  of  thought 
may  seem  dissevered;  but  not  in  the  instance  be- 
fore us. 

An  absolute  disconnection  has  been  affirmed.  But 
there  is  a  solemn  nemeds  of  connection  and  congruity 
between  this  narrative  by  John  (so  sui^erhuman  in  its 
jilace  and  power),  and  the  i>receding  seventh  chapter, 
that  ought  carefully  to  be  traced,  and  is  woxihy  of 
profound  reflection. 

There  had  been  an  earnest,  feverish,  angiy  discus- 
sion among  the  common  people,  the  noXXol  ku  too 
ox'Xov,  and  the  accusers  of  Christ,  the  Pharisees,  the 
officers  of  the  high  priest,  sent  to  take  Him,  and  the 
rulers  of  the  nation.  Nicodemus  among  them  had 
confronted  them  with  their  own  law,  forbidding  ad- 
verse judgment  of  any  one,  without  fir.st  trying  him 
by  the  required  witnesses,  and  knowing  what  he  had 


^2  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

done,  by  the  evideuce.  So  the  controversy  was  left, 
over  night. 

In  the  morning  these  exasj)erated  and  disappointed 
enemies  came  again  to  the  Temjilc,  where  Christ  had 
already  renewed  His  teachings,  bringing  a  case  to 
Him  for  His  own  judgment,  by  which  they  were  sure 
to  find  occasion  for  arraigning  Him,  as  against  Moses 
or  against  Cesar,  or  both.  And  if  He  accepted  and 
exercised  the  ofl&ce  of  judge,  asserting  an  authority 
above  that  of  Moses,  as  He  had  done  in  regard  to  the 
Sabbath  for  all  mankind,  they  would  have  charged 
Him  with  blasphemy,  and  might  have  enraged  the 
people  against  Him.  The  Law  of  Moses  not  only 
required  two  or  three  witnesses,  but  also  directed 
(Comp.  Deut.  xix.  15,  and  xvii.  G,  7)  that  in  case  of  a 
crime  worth}^  to  be  punished  by  death,  "  the  hands  of 
the  witnesses  should  be  first  upon  him,  to  put  him 
to  death,  and  afterward  the  hands  of  the  people." 

Jesus,  stooping  down,  wrote  with  His  finger,  and 
then  rising,  said,  "  He  that  is  without  sin  among  you, 
let  him  cast  the  first  stone." 

It  was  the  Searcher  of  hearts,  calling  each  accuser 
as  if  by  name,  to  the  duty  of  an  accuser.  Not  one 
could  utter  a  syllable.  They  had  brought  the  woman 
to  Jesus  for  judgment,  not  from  abhorrence  of  the  sin, 
or  to  stone  hcv,  but  out  of  hatred  and  accusation  of 
Chi'ist,  in  the  lope  of  entrapping  ILim.     He  indicted 


Faith,  Doubt-,  and  Evidence.  ^j 

llwm  before  Clod,  the  Law,  and  tbeii*  own  conscience. 
They  could  not  cast  even  at  her  not  so  much  as  the 
stone  of  a  word,  but  stole  away,  speechless,  bowed 
down  with  shame,  smitten  to  the  heart,  while  Jesus, 
again  stooping  do^\^l,  wrote  on  the  ground. 

They  had  been  ghb  enough  in  pressing  their  ques- 
tions, confident  of  triumph,  and  had  insultingly  con- 
tinued asking  Hun,  even  while  He  was  writing.  If 
any  one  desires  an  instructive  light  of  illustration  on 
the  possible  significance  of  this  action  of  our  Lord, 
let  him  read  the  annotations  by  Lightfoot,  Hebrew 
and  Talmudical,  on  the  eighth  verse  of  this  chajiter. ' 
Works,  YoL  12,  i^p.  315-317. 

"Woman,  where  are  those  thine  accusers?  Hath 
no  man  condemned  thee?"  proved  thy  guilt  by  his 
testimony,  given  according  to  the  law?  "She  said, 
No  man.  Lord.  Jesus  said  unto  her.  Neither  do  I 
condemn  thee.  Go,  and  sin  no  more."  The  heart- 
searching  tenderness  of  Clu'ist  was  the  salvation  of 
the  sinner,  whom  the  malignity  and  hypocrisy  of  the 
Jews  had  brought  to  be  destroj-ed. 

How  striking  the  resemblance  between  these  words 
of  our  Lord  and  those  adcU'essed  to  the  impotent  man 
whom  He  had  healed  at  the  pool  of  Bethesda !  "  Be- 
hold, thou  art  made  whole:  sin  no  more,  lest  a  worse 
thing  come  unto  thee."  He  makes  manifest  the  coun- 
sels of  the   hearts,  and  brings  to  light  the   hidden 


5-/  FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

things  of  darkness,  at  a  word.  Noio,  this  word  is  to 
save  the  soul;  by  and  by,  it  will  judge  all  men.  Now, 
it  came  not  to  jiuhje  the  world,  but  to  mm  the  world. 
Both  the  imiDotcnt  man  and  the  guilty  woman  were 
saved  by  the  Lord's  Word  now,  that  they  might  not 
be  condemned  by  it  hereafter.  Judge  nothing  before 
the  time,  until  the  Lord  come. 

Now  again  Jesus  resumes  the  argument  of  light, 
life,  and  divine  authority  in  Hhnself,  in  immediate 
connection  with  the  preceding  events  and  discussions, 
and  in  the  presence  of  His  own  adversaries  and  ac- 
cusers. And  their  points  against  Him  are  again  in 
regard  to  the  required  witnesses,  and  judgment  to  be 
rendered  accordingly,  which  must  be  rendered  on 
evidence,  and  personal  knowledge,  and  not  hearsay, 
nor  after  the  flesh. 

They  accused  Him  of  self-assertion  without  testi- 
mony, and,  so  of  falsehood.  But  they  had  themselves 
accused  the  woman,  and  demanded  judgment,  xoithout 
witnesses;  being  themselves  jjaralyzed  and  driven  out 
of  court,  speechles.s,  by  conscience,  at  the  words  of 
Christ.  Now  Christ  says,  I  judge  no  man  thus.  But 
my  judgment  is  true  according  to  your  own  law,  with 
which  Nicodemiis  has  abeady  answered  you,  when 
you  were  accusing  me.  I  am  not  alone,  but  I  and 
the  Father  that  sent  me.  Here  are  the  two  required 
witnesses.     It  is  written  in  your  Law,  that  the  testi- 


Faith,  Dottht,  and  Evidence.  55 

inony  of  two  men  is  true.  Here  are  two,  and  one  of 
them  is  God  that  sent  me,  and  is  with  me.  Take  this 
testimony,  and  act  upon  it.  "Which  of  j'ou  convinceth 
me  of  sin?  And  if  I  sa}'  the  truth,  why  do  ye  not 
believe  me? 

From  the  thirt^'-seventh  verse  of  the  seventh  chap- 
ter to  the  thirtieth  of  the  eighth,  and  even  through 
the  eighth,  there  is  one  and  the  same  flashing  of  di- 
vine hght  and  argument,  not  interrupted,  but  rather, 
occasion  given  for  most  wonderful  and  providential 
illustration  and  confirmation,  by  the  malicious,  and 
(as  they  thought)  adroit  stratagem  of  the  Ka.ri)yopoiy 
the  accusers  of  the  woman  and  of  Christ. — See  the 
comment  of  Lightfoot  on  the  ninth  verse. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Lightfoot,  in  considering 
•why  the  story  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery  was  not 
in  some  ancient  copies,  quotes  from  Eusebius  "  two 
little  stories";  first,  the  passage  in  regard  to  Papias, 
and  second  the  order  from  Constantine  for  fifty  copies 
of  the  Scriptures  to  be  written  out  in  fair  parchment 
for  reading  in  the  churches. 

Tischendorf  regarded  the  Sinaitic  MS.  discovered 
by  him  as  perhaps  one  of  those  very  copies. 

Lightfoot  says,  "If  Eusebius  ascribed  the  story  of 
the  adulterers  to  the  ti'ifler  Papias,  or  at  least  to  the 
gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  oul}',  ic'dhnd  doubt 
he  would   never  insert   U  in  copies  transcribed  hij  ]u'm. 


^6  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Hence  jDOSsibly  migiit  arise  tlae  omkm)n  of  it  iu  some 
copies,  after  JSusebiusa  lime.  It  is  in  copies  before  his 
age,  etc." — Works,  12,  313. 

This  saggestion  is  no  mere  conjecture,  but  an  acute 
inference  from  comparison  of  the  two  passages  in 
Eusebius.  It  strengthens  the  argument  for  the  gen- 
uineness of  the  disputed  text. 

Bengel,  in  his  Gnomon  remarks  on  the  clause,  "aud 
miv  none  hut  the  looman,"  iliui  "the  preposition  nXr/v, 
but,  nowhere  employed  hij  John,  betrays  a  gloss  un- 
known to  the  ancients;  the  force  of  whi(;h  in-ejjosition 
John  has  evei'}"\vhere  expressed  differently." 

This  suggestion,  in  order  to  stand  fii-m,  would  re- 
quire at  least  three  suppositions  or  assumptions,  name- 
ly: (1)  that  we  know  absolutely  that  John  himself  did 
not  write  this  paragraph,  for  if  he  did,  he  "WTote  every 
word  of  it;  (2)  that  the  word  itXifv  had  no  other  force 
in  Greek  usage  kno\\'n  to  John  than  such  as  might 
have  been  expressed  by  the  other  synonymous  j^repo- 
sitions,  adverbs,  or  conjunctive  jDai'ticles,  which  John 
has  emplo3^ed;_(3)  that  if  anywhere  John  has  used  a 
word  that  can  be  found  nowhere  else  in  his  gospel, 
this  would  be  proof  that  the  jiassage  where  that  word 
is  found  was  not  his  own,  but  a  gloss. 

Bengel  says  of  John,  "everywhere  expressed  dif- 
ferently." 

But  now,  turning  to  the  Apocalypse,  chapiter  ii.  25, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  5/ 

we  fiud  this  very  word  ■n'kt'ii',  as  au  adverb,  tliouf^h 
Beugel  Las  said  that  it  is  nowhere  emplojed  by  Joliu. 
The  use  of  it  in  the  Apocalypse  can  liardly  have  been 
overlooked  by  the  critic;  and  j-et  the  same  reasoning 
concerning  its  use  in  the  gospel,  apj)lied  to  the  in- 
stance of  it  in  the  Aj^ocalypse,  icoidd  betray  a  gloss  there 
likewise,  and  would  consequently  mark  the  verse,  if 
not  the  context,  as  not  being  John's  Avritiug. 

INIark  has  used  the  same  preposition  only  once  in 
his  gospel  (Mark  xii.  82;  there  is  none  other  but  Him, 
besides  Him).  The  argument  by  which  the  verse  in 
John  is  supposed  to  indicate  a  gloss,  would  prove 
with  ecjual  fcn-ce  that  the  verses  28-34  in  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Mark  are  not  Mark's  own  writing,  but  the 
work  of  the  glossarian. 

For  the  argument  is  the  same  in  both  cases.  John 
is  said  never  to  have  used  nX/fv  anpvhere  else;  there- 
fore he  could  not  have  used  it  here;  therefore  this 
pas.sage  may  not  have  been  John's.  On  such  reason- 
ing, might  not  every  book  of  the  Scriptures  in  turn 
be  excluded  as  possibly  a  forgery? 

Perhai:)s  the  word,  as  found  in  John  viii.  10,  should 
more  accurately  be  rendered  notwithstanding,  as  it 
frequently  is  rendered  in  other  places  b}'  our  trans- 
lators. 

For  example,  Luke  x.  20,  "Notwithstanding  {nXiiy), 
in  this  rejoice  not,  that  the  spirits  are  subject  unto 


^8  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

you;  but  rather  (Se  ndWov),  rejoice,"  etc.  So,  x.  11, 
notwithstanding,  be  jq  sure,  etc.  In  Luke  xiii.  33, 
and  xviii.  8,  it  is  translated  nevertheless,  and  so  in 
xviii.  42.  In  Acts  viii.  1,  it  is  translated  except;  xv. 
28,  no  greater  burden  than;  xx.  23,  save  that;  in 
I  Corinthians  xi.  11,  nevertheless;  in  Eph.  v.  23,  never- 
theless; in  Philip,  i.  18,  notwithstanding;  iii.  16,  neverthe- 
less; iv.  14,  notwithstanding.  In  Matt.  xxvi.  G4,  never- 
theless, and  39. 

Now  let  us  read  in  John  viii.  10,  "  When  Jesus  had 
lifted  uj)  Himself,  and  saw  none,  notwithstanding  the 
woman"  (that  is,  although  she  was  still  there,  while 
her  accusers  had  fled,  leaving  Jesus  alone,  and  the 
woman  standing  in  the  midst),  "He  said  unto  her," 
etc.  The  connection  and  reasoning  gain  force  and 
jioint  by  rendering,  as  in  the  passages  indicated  in 
Luke  and  Ephesiaus,  vol  withstanding. 

There  is  no  occasion  for  supposing  a  gloss,  but 
rather  confirmation  of  the  whole  passage.  Bengel 
himself  admitted  the  supposition  of  the  gloss,  only  in 
the  three  words,  notwithstanding  the  icoman,  and  be- 
lieved that  the  whole  questioned  passage,  in  its  in- 

^  tegrity,  belonged  to  John,  and  was  the  gift  and  inspi- 

^g'ation  of  the  Holy  Sj)ii'it. 

-g^nd  he  says,  "  The  wisdom  and  power  evinced  by 

JesuHt?  ^^  ^^®  history  of  the  adulterers  are  so  great, 

that  it  n^^  strange  that  this  remarkable  jioi-tion  of  the 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  jp 

gospel  history'  should  at  present  be  regarded  by  many 
as  uncertain." 

The  internal  e\ddence  overpowered,  in  Bengel's 
judgment,  the  external  doubts. 

Of  all  known  causes  of  the  differences  to  be  found 
in  our  stores  of  Scriptvu'e  Manuscripts,  none  are  suf- 
ficient to  account  for,  or  to  proA'e,  large  interpolations. 
If  such  could  be  successfully  installed  as  forgeries, 
and  no  means  left  of  i:)roving  them,  it  would  be  con- 
trary to  the  divine  prt)mises  and  seals  of  an  infaUible 
inspiration. 

Scrivener  enumerates  twenty  possible  causes  of 
variations  in  the  manuscrij)ts,  the  last  being,  "doc- 
trinal preconcejytions."  But  a  fair  example  of  the 
harmlessness  of  the  greater  part  of  the  variations 
may  be  taken  from  the  difference  in  the  order  of  the 
same  words,  before  or  after,  as  for  example,  hy  name 
Ananias,  or  Ananias  by  name. — Acts  ix.  12. 

The  scribes  writing  fi-om  dictation,  not  from  the 
copy  before  them,  might  account  for  many  verbal 
differences,  especijilly  in  the  case  of  several  copj-ing, 
from  one's  reading  aloud. 

Dr.  Vaughan  presents  Paul's  hahii  of  diclaling,  as 
"  sufficient  reason  for  broken  constructions,  for  parti- 
ciples without  verbs,  for  suspended  nominatives,  for 
sudden  digressions,  for  fresh  starts." 

"The  moi-e  copious  our  stores  of  the  New  Testa- 


6o  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ment  manuscripts  the  less  our  perplexity  and  doubt 
as  to  the  purity  of  the  sacred  text.  We  can  arrive  at 
almOHl  miraculous  certainty  of  its  integrity." 

"One  great  truth  is  at  length  admitted  on  all 
hands,  namely,  the  almost  complete  freedom  of  Holy 
Scriptui'e  from  the  susj)icion  of  xvUful  corrUjjtion;  the 
absolute  identity  of  the  testimony  of  every  known 
cojDy  in  res2)ect  to  doctrine,  spirit,  and  the  main  drift 
of  every  argument  and  every  narrative  through  the 
entu'e  volume  of  InsiDiration." 

All  these  facts  and  reasonings  apply  with  power  to 
the  cases  of  supposed  interpolations  in  Mark  and 
John.  They  show  the  extreme  improbability,  after 
such  "  almost  mu'aculous  certainty,"  of  the  sacred 
text,  knowing  the  marvellous  providential  presei'va- 
tion  of  such  multitudes  of  manuscripts  fi'om  corrup- 
tion, that  such  massive  forgeries  of  whole  narratives 
should  have  found  a  settlement  in  two  of  the  gospels, 
in  the  middle  of  one,  at  the  end  of  the  other  !  Were 
it  possible  for  revisers  to  exclude,  by  conjecture  and 
suspicion,  these  i^assages  from  the  English  Bible,  it 
would  be  a  loss  so  great,  and  an  unsettlement  of  cer- 
tainties so  disastrous,  that  all  the  benefit  of  minute 
iiiipi'(jvements  in  the  tc.r'n.-i  irccplm,  and  its  interpre- 
tation, could  hardly  compensate  the  mischief. 


Faith,  Doubt,  ami  Evidence.  6i 


X. 


COMPARISON    OF   FRANKLIN'S   PRINTED    EDITIONS 

WITH  JUS  OWN  autographic  manuscript. 

In  the  history  of  the  luiimiscripls  and  i)riuted 
editions  of  the  Autobiography  of  Franldin  there  is 
room  for  nearly  all  the  controversies  that  have  been 
rife  concerning  the  sacred  books.  The  very  author- 
ship of  the  whole  work  might  have  been  assailed, 
on  the  ground  that  whereas  the  printed  edition  of 
1817  began,  "To  William  FrankUn,  Governor  of  New 
Jersey,"  the  autograph  begins,  "Dear  Son";  and  the 
French  translation,  ''Mon  eher  fds"  The  authorship 
of  the  Apocalypse  has  been  denied  for  less  satisfac- 
tory reasons  than  these,  though  the  best  of  external 
evidence  suj^poiis  it,  and  it  can  not  be  denied  that 
the  book  opens  with  the  announcement  of  John  as 
its  author.  There  is  no  such  formal  announcement 
in  tlie  autograjih  of  Frankhn;  but  there  is  a  covert 
announcement  in  the  uiterpolation  at  the  commence- 
ment, Avhere  the  printed  edition  reads,  "  To  Wilham 
Franklin,  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  Dear  Son,"  etc. 

As  a  fair  examjile  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
changes  in  the  text  we  take  the  first  specuncn  on 
the  first  page. 


62 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


Feom  the  Edition  of  1817. 

Imagining  it  may  be  equally 
agreeable  to  yon  to  \tarn  the 
circumstances  of  my  life,  many 
of  wliicli  you  are  unacquainted 
with,  and  expecting  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  fevo  iceeks'  uninter- 
rupted leisure  I  sit  down  to 
write  them.  Besides,  there  are 
some  other  inducements  that 
excite  me  to  this  undertaking. 
From  the  poverty  and  obscur- 
ity in  which  I  was  born  and 
in  which  I  passed  my  earliest 
years,  I  have  raised  myself  to 
a  state  of  affluence  and  some 
degree  of  celebrity  in  the  world. 
As  constant  good  fortune  has  ac- 
companied me  even  to  an  ad- 
vanced period  of  life,  my  pos- 
terity will  perhaps  be  desirous 
of  learning  the  means  which  I 
employed,  and  which,  thanks  to 
Providence,  so  weU  succeeded 
with  me.  They  may  also  deem 
them  fit  to  be  imitated,  should 
any  of  them  find  thefinselves  in 
similar  circumstances. 


Feom  the  Autograph,  Page  1. 

Imagining  it  may  be  equally 
agreeable  to  j'ou  to  know  the 
circumstances  of  my  life,  many 
of  which  you  are  yet  unac- 
quainted with,  and  exi^ecting 
a  week's  uninterrapted  leisure 
in  my  present  country  retirement 
I  sit  down  to  write  them  for 
you. 

To  which  I  have  besides  some 
other  inducements.  Having 
emerged  from  the  poverty  and 
obscuritj'  in  which  I  was  bom 
and  bred  to  a  state  of  affluence 
and  some  degree  of  reputation 
in  the  v.'orld,  and  having  gone 
so  far  through  life  with  a  con- 
siderable share  of  felicity,  the 
conducing  means  I  made  use  of, 
which,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
so  well  succeeded,  my  posterity 
may  like  to  know,  as  they  may 
find  some  of  them  suitable  to 
their  own  situation,  and  there- 
fore fit  to  be  imitated. 


Now  to  this  comi:)arisou  we  add,  for  the  j)urpose 
of  showing  more  clearly  the  alterations  which  the 
text  had  undergone,  the  same  opening  paragraph  of 
Franklin's  life,  as  it  is  found  in  the  London  and 
Glasgow  editions  of  the  Autobiography,  i)rinted  by 
C.  Whittingham  at  Chiswick  in  182-4. 


Faithy  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  6j 

"My  Dear  Son: — I  have  amused  myself  with  col- 
lecting some  little  anecdotes  of  m}'  famUy.  You  may 
remember  the  inquu-ies  I  made,  when  you  were 
with  me  in  England,  among  such  of  my  relations 
as  were  then  living;  and  the  joui-ney  I  undertook 
for  that  purpose.  To  be  acquainted  with  the  i^ar- 
ticulars  of  my  parentage  and  life,  many  of  which 
are  unknown  to  you,  I  flatter  myself  will  afford  the 
same  pleasure  to  you  as  to  me.  I  shall  relate  them 
upon  paper:  it  M'ill  be  an  agreeable  employment  of  a 
week's  uninterrupted  leisvu'e,  which  I  promise  myself 
during  my  present  retirement  m  the  country.  There 
are  also  other  motives  which  induce  me  to  the  under- 
taking. From  the  bosom  of  poverty  and  obscurity 
in  which  I  drew  my  breath  and  spent  my  earhest 
years,  I  have  raised  myself  to  a  state  of  opidence, 
and  to  some  degree  of  celebrity  in  the  world.  A 
constant  good  fortune  has  attended  me  through 
eveiy  period  of  life  to  my  present  advanced  age; 
and  my  descendants  may  be  desirous  of  learning 
what  were  the  means  of  which  I  made  use  and 
which,  thanks  to  the  assisting  hand  of  Providence, 
have  proved  so  eminently  successful.  They  may  also, 
should  they  ever  be  placed  in  a  sunilar  situation, 
derive  some  advantage  from  my  narrative." 

Frankhn's  death  was  in  1700.  In  17'.)1  appeared 
the  French  translation  of  his  unfinished  Memoirs.     In 


6jf.  Faith,  Doicbt,  and  Evidence. 

1793  that  translation  was  retranslated  from  French  to 
EngHsh,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  only  Enghsh 
version  in  print  until  1817. 

A  continuation  of  the  Memoirs  was  written  T)y  Dr. 
Stuber  of  Philadelphia,  "  one  of  the  Doctor's  inti- 
mate friends,"  carr^-ing  the  biography,  with  great 
interest,  down  to  his  death;  and  the  whole  con- 
tinued to  be  published,  with  a  valuable  selection 
from  Franklin's  Essays,  in  various  editions  in  Eng- 
land, even  after  the  i^ubhcation  of  Frankhn's  Life 
and  Works  b}^  his  grandson. 

An  extract  from  the  closing  pages  (London  and 
Glasgow  edition  of  1824),  and  a  comparison  of  it 
"v\4th  the  original,  are  still  more  curious  aud  illustra- 
tive than  the  same  processes  with  the  commencement. 


Edition  of  1824,  moji  the 

Feench. 
As  a  neighbor  and  okl   ac- 
quaintance,  I  bail  kept  np  a 


Froji  the  Autograph. 
A  friendly  correspondence  as 
neighbors   and    old    acquaint- 


friendly  intimac}'^  with  the  fam-  [  ances  had  continued  between 


ily  of  Miss  Read.  Her  parents 
had  retained  an  affection  for 
me,  from  the  time  of  my  lodg- 
ing in  their  house.    I  was  often 


mo  and  Mrs.  Eead's  family, 
who  all  had  a  regard  for  me 
from  the  time  of  mj'  finjt  lodg- 
ing in  their  house.    I  was  often 


invited  thither;  thej'  consulted  i  invited  there,  and  consulted  in 
mo  about  their  affair.!,  and  1 1  their  affairs,  wherein  I  some- 
had  been  sometimes  service-  times  was  of  service.  I  pitied 
able  to  them.  I  was  toaiched  j  poor  Miss  Road's  unfortunato 
with  the  unhappy  situation  of  I  situation,  who  was  generally 
their  daughter,  who  was  almost  |  dejected,  seldom  chcorful,  and 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


(>5 


ahvaj's  melancholy,  and  con- 
tinimlly  seekin;^  c.olitude.  I 
regarded  my  forgetfulness  and 
incon:jtancy  diiring  my  abode 
in  London,  as  tlie  principal 
part  of  her  misfortune,  though 
her  mother  had  the  candor  to 
attribute  the  fault  to  herself 
rather  than  to  me,  because, 
after  having  prevented  our 
marriage  ijreviously  to  my 
departure,  she  had  induced 
her  to  maiTy  another  in  my 
absence. 

Our    mutual     affection     re- 
vived; but  there  existed  great 
obstacles   to   our  union.     Her 
marriage  was   considered,    in- 
deed, as  not  being  valid,   the 
man    having,    it    was    said,    a 
fomier    wife,    still    living    in 
England;   but   of   this   it   was 
difficult  to  obtain  a  proof  at 
so    great    distance;    and    sup- 
posing  it  to  be  true,   he  had 
left  many  debts,  for  the  pay- 
ment  of  which  his  successor 
might  be  sued.    We  ventured, 
nevertheless,    in    spite    of   all , 
these   difficulties,   and   I  mar- 
ried   her  on  the   1st  Septem- ' 
ber,    1730.     None    of   the    in- , 
conveniences    we    had    feared  i 
happened  to  us.     She   proved  ' 
to    me    a    good    and    faithful ', 
companion,    and    contributed 
essentially   to   the    success   of  | 
my   shoi).     We   prospered   to- ' 


avoided  company.  I  consid- 
ered my  giddiness  and  incon- 
stancy when  in  London  as  in 
a  great  degree  the  cause  of 
her  unhappiness,  though  the 
mother  was  good  enough  to 
think  the  fault  more  her  own 
than  mine,  as  she  had  pre- 
vented our  marrj'ing  before  I 
went  thither,  and  persuaded 
the  other  match  in  my  absence. 


Our  mutual  afifection  was 
revived,  but  there  were  now 
great  objections  to  our  union. 
The  match  was  indeed  looked 
\\\>OM  as  invalid,  a  preceding 
wife  being  said  to  be  living 
in  England;  but  this  could 
not  easily  be  proved,  because 
of  the  distance;  and  though 
there  was  a  report  of  his 
death,  it  was  not  certain. 
Then,  though  it  should  be 
true,  he  had  left  many  debts, 
which  his  successor  might  be 
called  upon  to  pay.  We  ven- 
tured, however,  over  all  these 
difficulties,  and  I  took  her 
to  wife  September  1st,  1730. 
None  of  the  inconveniences 
happened  that  we  had  a^jpre- 
hended.  She  proved  a  good 
and  faithful  helpmate,  as- 
sisted me  much  by  attending 
the  shop;  we  throve  together, 


66 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence, 


gether,  and  it  was  our  mu- 
tual study  to  render  each 
other  happy.  Thus  I  correct- 
ed, as  well  as  I  could,  this 
great  error  of  my  youth. 

Our  club  was  not  at  that 
time  established  at  a  tavern. 
"We  held  our  meetings  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Grace,  who  ap- 
jDropriated  a  room  for  the  pur- 
pose. Some  member  observed 
one  day  that  as  our  books  were 
frequently  quoted  in  the  course 
of  our  discussions,  it  would  be 
convenient  to  have  them  col- 
lected in  the  room  in  which 
we  assembled,  in  order  to  be 
consulted  upon  occasion;  and 
that,  by  thus  forming  a  com- 
mon library  of  our  individual 
collections,  each  would  have 
the  advantage  of  using  the 
books  of  all  the  other  mem- 
bers, which  would  nearly  be 
the  same  as  if  he  possessed 
them  all  himself.  The  idea 
was  api^roved,  and  we  accord- 
ingly brought  such  books  as 
we  thought  wo  could  spare, 
which  were  placed  at  the  end  of 
the  club-room.  They  amount- 
ed not  to  eo  many  as  we  ex- 
pected; and  though  we  made 
considerable  use  of  them,  yet 
some  inconveniences  resulting 
from  want  of  caro,  it  was 
agreed,  after  about  a  year,  to 
discontinue  the  collection;  and 


and  have  ever  endeavored  to 
make  each  other  happy.  Thus 
I  con-ected  that  great  erratum, 
as  well  as  I  could. 

About  this  time,  our  club 
meeting,  not  at  a  tavern,  but 
in  a  little  room  of  Mr.  Grace's, 
set  apart  for  that  purpose,  a 
IjroiDosition  was  made  by  me, 
that  since  our  books  were  oft- 
en referred  to  in  our  disqui- 
sitions upon  the  quexies,  it 
might  be  convenient  to  us  to 
have  them  altogether  where 
we  met,  that  ujjon  occasion 
they  might  be  consulted:  and 
by  thus  clubbing  our  books  to 
a  common  hbraiy,  we  should, 
while  Ave  liked  to  keep  them 
together,  have  each  of  us  the 
advantage  of  using  the  books 
of  all  the  other  members, 
which  would  be  nearly  as 
beneficial  as  if  each  owned 
the  whole.  It  was  liked  and 
agreed  to,  and  we  filled  one 
end  of  the  room  with  such 
books  as  we  could  best  spare. 
The  number  was  not  so  great 
as  we  expected;  and  though 
they  had  been  of  great  use, 
yet  some  inconveniences  oc- 
curring for  want  of  due  care 
of  them,  the  collection,  after 
about  a  year,  was  separated, 
and  each  took  his  books  homo 
again.     I  drew  up  the  iiroiio- 


Faiih,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


67 


each  took  away  such  books  as 
belonged  to  him. 

It  was  now  that  I  first  start- 
ed the  idea  of  establishing  by 
subscription  a  public  library. 
I  drew  Tip  the  proposals,  had 
them  engrossed  in  form  by 
Brockdcn,  the  attorney,  and 
my  project  succeeded,  as  will 
be  seen  in  the  sequel. 


saLs,  got  them  put  into  form 
by  our  great  scrivener,  Brock- 
dcn, and  by  the  help  of  my 
friends  in  the  Junto,  procured 
fifty  subscriber:^  of  forty  shill- 
ings each  to  begin  with,  and 
ten  shillings  a  year  for  fifty 
years,  the  term  our  company 
was  to  continue.  We  after- 
wards obtained  a  charter,  tho 
company  being  increased  to 
one  hundred;  this  was  tho 
mother  of  all  tho  North  Amer- 
ican subscription  libraries,  now 
80  numerous. 


Here  ends  that  portion  of  tlie  Autobiography 
which  first  appeared  in  the  French  language,  trans- 
lated from  the  EngHsh  MS.  and  then  translated  back 
from  that  French  into  EngHsh.  The  editor  says 
"the  life  of  Dr.  Franklin,  as  written  by  himself,  so 
far  as  it  has  yet  been  communicated  to  the  world, 
breaks  off  in  this  place.  We  understand  that  it  was 
continued  by  him  somewhat  farther,  and  we  hope 
that  the  remainder  will,  at  some  future  period,  be 
communicated  to  the  public." 

On  compai-ison  of  these  extracts  the  reader  can  not 
but  remark  two  particulars;  first  the  greater  length 
and  wordiness  of  the  French-l^^nglish  memoir;  second 
the  manner  in  which,  nevertheless,  a  considerable  de- 
gree of  the  simphcity  and  naturalness  of  the  origi- 


6S  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

rial  narrative  has  been  maintained.  In  tlie  French 
it  must  have  been  still  more  exactly  a  preservation  of 
Franklin's  style.  It  is  wonderful  that  any  measure 
of  the  original  vivacity  and  ease  could  have  held  its 
freshness,  thi-ough  such  transmutations  in  languages 
so  diverse. 

The  three  first  laws  of  internal  evidence  out  of  the 
seven  canons  described  by  Scrivener  in  the  sixth 
chapter  of  his  "Introduction  to  the  Criticism  of  the 
New  Testament,"  are  illustrated  in  these  extracts,  es- 
pecially the  thii-d  ride,  from  Griesbach:  "Brevior 
lectio  prffiferenda  est  verbosiori."  The  shortest  read- 
ing is  to  be  preferred  to  the  more  verbose.  It  is 
more  likely  to  be  the  true,  the  inspired  original. 

The  first  of  these  rules,  "  Proclivi  Scriptioni  prsestat 
ardua";  the  more  difficult  to  be  preferred  to  the 
easier,  as  more  likely  to  be  genuine;  is  not  so  man- 
ifest. In  the  case  of  Frankhn's  MS.  it  fails,  for  here 
the  easiest  is  at  once  the  briefest,  and  the  genuine. 
In  fact,  sometimes,  the  wordy  commentator,  attempt- 
ing to  make  the  original  plainer,  makes  the  explana- 
tion more  difficult. 

Few  thmgs  in  the  history  of  literature  are  more 
curious  and  interesting  than  this  comparison  of  dif- 
ferent copies  of  the  writings  of  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  men  in  the  world.  Few  things  are  more 
instructive    than    the    variations    of   style,    language, 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  6g 

formation  of  sentences,  shades  of  tliought  and  in- 
ference, characteristics  of  oj^inion  and  emotion,  even 
in  the  space  of  two  or  three  pages;  and  especially, 
as  may  be  seen  on  a  comi:)arison  of  the  last  eight 
pages  of  the  Autobiograj)hy  with  the  first,  the  differ- 
ence of  manner  and  words  between  Franklin's  earliest 
and  latest  st3'le  of  composition.  Not  so  much  in- 
deed, as  between  Burke's  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and 
Beautiful,  and  his  Reflections  on  the  French  Revo- 
lution, or  even  between  this  last  great  work  and  his 
Letters  on  a  Regicide  Peace;  but  enough  to  show 
how  widely  diflerent  the  same  author's  style  may 
be,  at  different  periods  of  his  life,  even  in  the  prog- 
ress of  a  few  years,  and  with  the  same  opinions; 
and  yet  no  just  ground  of  argument  whatever  for 
denying  the  same  authorship  unquestioned  in  either 
case.  Original  genius,  like  murder,  will  out,  and 
will  demonstrate  itself.  Tlie  Autobiograph}-  of  Frank- 
lin might  have  had  a  hundred  different  versions;  but 
this  would  have  made  no  difference  as  to  the  con- 
viction, the  proof,  of  its  being  Frauldin's  in  every 
part.  The  grandson  might  alter  it,  the  translations 
might  disfigure  it,  but  the  seals  of  originality  and 
truth  remain  the  same. 

And  thus  this  work  of  genius  had  such  vital  i^ower, 
that  its  essence  was  difl'used  as  a  present  energizing 
Bpiiit  into   every  translation,   so  that   the   most   sur- 


'JO  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

15rising  variations  from  the  original  still  i^reserved 
its  indisputable  tiiith.  The  quaUties  of  Franklin's 
style,  like  some  exquisite  natural  odors,  were  retained 
through  every  medium,  nor  could  any  transcription 
conceal  them,  or  prevent  their  fragrance.  There  was 
a  constraining  spirit  of  delicacy  and  humor,  an  orig- 
inality and  sincerity  of  thought  and  feeling,  an  or- 
ganic law  of  simphcity  and  purity,  forbidding  any 
such  departure  from  the  original  mould  as  would 
interfere  with  the  conviction  of  its  identity. 

Now  the  question  recurs,  if  natural  idiosyncrasy 
and  artlessness  and  charm  of  style  j^ossess  such  in- 
destructible life  and  freshness,  as  to  insure  the  whole 
world  so  aljsolutcly  against  a  forgery,  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  it,  and  against  any  loss  of  the  original 
creative  genius,  how  much  greater  may  be  the  as- 
surance of  the  undiminished  power  of  ti'ansmittcd 
inspired  j)roductions  for  the  support  of  an  immortal 
life?  And  this  is  the  Word,  which  by  the  gosjiel  is 
j)reached  unto  you,  "  but  not  in  the  words  which 
man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  *Holy  Ghost 
teacheth." 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  yi 


XI. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF  MOSES— CHRIST  AND  GENESIS- 
INSPIRATION  AND   UNITY   OF  THE  PENTATEUCH. 

The  Autobiography  of  Moses,  being  contained  in 
the  Pentateuch,  the  very  beginning  of  all  known 
Hebrew  and  human  literature,  the  beginning  of  all 
the  evidences  of  divine  inspiration,  it  is  not  wonder- 
ful that  this  commencement  of  God's  Book  for  us, 
and  of  our  faith  in  it  towards  Him,  should  have  had 
fiery  trials  to  pass  through,  before  it  could  stand, 
after  four  thousand  years,  as  the  acknowledged  head- 
spring of  all  human  certainties  of  faith. 

The  attacks  against  it  began  with  the  assertion, 
that  the  ai't  of  writing  was  unknown  among  the  He- 
brews of  that  early  period.  But  one  such  position 
after  another  had  to  be  rehnquished,  till  Gcsenius 
admitted  that  they  knew  how  to  write  at  least  two 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  Do 
"NVctte  himself  said  at  length  that  the  art  of  Avritiug 
among  the  Hebrews  might  properly  be  assinucd  as 
commencing  with  IMoses,  the  author  and  lawgiver 
of  the  Hebrew  State.  But  unless  invented  among 
them  bv  and   for  them32lvcs,   it   must   have   been  a 


y2  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

part  of  their  education  in  Egypt,  where  indeed  they 
could  not  have  been  ignorant  of  it. 

Havernick,  in  his  account  of  the  progress  and  va- 
riety of  the  attacks  upon  the  Pentateuch  (Introd.  to 
the  P.,  pp.  441,  442)  refers  to  the  fact  that  Spinoza 
regarded  Deuteronomy  as  the  book  that  was  jinst 
composed,  and  Ezra  as  the  compiler  of  the  whole  col- 
lection. According  to  De  Wette,  Genesis  and  Exodus 
belonged  to  the  period  from  Samuel  to  Jeroboam;  Le- 
viticus and  Numbers  to  the  Assyrian  captivity;  and 
Deuteronomy  to  the  Babylonian.  Voluey  maintained 
that  the  whole  was  compiled  by  Hilkiah,  Shaj)han 
and  Jeremiah  in  comjDany. 

The  manifest  character  of  Grenesis,  as  the  neces- 
sary introduction  to  the  whole  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
the  key,  without  which,  the  Pentateuch  would  be  a 
more  confounding  and  impossible  riddle  than  a  moun- 
tain of  gold  mines,  with  excavations  and  streets  and 
the  tools  and  skeletons  of  the  miners,  discovered  on 
the  shoulders  of  Mont  Blanc, — is  denied  or  ignored 
by  these  critics,  because,  if  admitted,  it  would  prove 
the  supernatural  unity  and  significance  of  the  whole 
Bible.  For  it  contains  the  Principia,  the  facts  that 
are  axioms  and  governing  guides  in  the  interpreta- 
tion; the  letters  and  figures  of  the  combination  recpii- 
site  for  opening  the  Safe ;  the  seeds  and  laws  of  the 
spiritual  universe  that  follows;   the  roots  of  Proph- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  jj 

ecy;  the  solution  of  the  riddles  of  our  human  nature 
and  exiDerience;  the  demonstration  and  justification 
of  the  Divine  Attributes  and  government;  the  Crea- 
tion, the  Fall,  the  predicted  Redemption,  the  first 
family,  the  first  sin,  the  first  remorse,  the  first  j^ar- 
doning  mercy,  the  first  faith,  preventing  despair,  the 
first  worshipping  altar,  the  first  disclosure  of  the 
way  of  return  to  God  by  sacrifice,  the  typical  insti- 
tutes of  instruction  in  the  way  of  salvation,  until  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  Serpent's  head. 

Genesis  at  the  beginning  accounts  for  all  that  fol- 
lows. Genesis  taken  away,  denied,  or  charged  as 
a  forgery,  as  the  Avork  of  liars  a  thousand  years 
later,  successive  and  conspiring,  keeping  up  a  i^re- 
conccrted  j)hn  of  unity  in  hjing,  such  as  is  denied  to 
insjiiration  for  the  truth,  as  being  impossible;  Gene- 
sis undermined,  the  whole  of  revelation  lies  in  ruins, 
from  Exodus  to  the  Ajjocalypse.  Christ  builds  His 
own  revelation  and  divine  authority  uj^on  it,  as  God's 
testimony,  and  quotes  from  it  the  divine  foundation 
of  human  society,  God's  inviolable  marriage  law. 

And  so  in  referring  to  Moses,  "  Had  ye  believed 
Moses,  3'e  Avould  have  believed  me,  for  he  wrote  of 
«u?.  But  if  ye  believe  not  Ixis  icrilingtf,  how  shall  ye 
believe  my  words '? "  His  WEiTr>fGS.  Not  one  book 
or  passage  only,  but  the  whole,  as  the  Jews  who 
were   listening   to   Christ,  received  them,  the  whole 


7^  FaitJi,  Doicbt,  and  Evidence. 

Pentateuch,  of  wliicli,  if  the  first  book  was  a  forgery, 
so  must  be  the  others,  and  the  testknonies  all  false 
concerning  Christ,  as  well  as  the  whole  system  of 
Divine  Revelation  foreteUing  Clmst,  and  founded 
solely  on  Genesis  o^  God's  Worxl. 

Well  may  the  critics,  "tugging  to  and  fro,"  as 
Samson  between  the  pillai'S  of  the  house  of  Dagon, 
strive  to  overthi'ow  Genesis  from  its  place;  for  the 
ruin  of  the  whole  Scriptures,  Old  and  New,  would 
follow;  and  Christ  as  well  as  Matthew,  John  and 
Paul,  and  all  behevers  and  witnesses  before  and 
since,  are  found  ffilse  witnesses  for  God,  and  with  His 
word  have  perished,  and  all  preacliing  is  vain,  and 
faith  imj^ossible. 

But  Genesis  written  by  Moses,  is  the  very  Gospel 
of  Faith  in  God,  and  in  His  system  of  Mercy  through 
Christ,  and  the  redemption  and  training  of  the  guilty 
soul  by  i>romises  fulfilled  in  Christ.  That  book  is 
the  only  solvition  of  the  Decalogue,  and  the  Sabbath, 
and  of  the  Levitical  books  of  history  and  of  the  di- 
vine statutes,  not  one  of  wliich  could  have  been  re- 
ceived or  regarded,  but  by  those  who  knew  the  di- 
vineness  of  the  preceding  recitcils,  and  that  they 
themselves  were  held  by  them;  containing  v;ast,  in- 
disputable facts  to  which  these  statutes  and  the  whole 
history  were  continually  making  reference;  the  gene- 
alogies and  clironologies  of  miiiikind;  the  confusion 


Faith.,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  75 


of  languages  and  dispersion  of  races;  the  immortal- 
ity of  man,  the  origin  and  consequences  of  sin  against 
God,  the  translation  of  Enoch;  the  flood  upon  the 
world  of  the  ungodly,  the  preaching  and  ark-build- 
ing of  Noah,  and  God's  covenant  through  him  for 
perpetual  generations  with  all  mankind;  and  then 
the  calling  of  Abraham,  and  the  covenant  with  him, 
and  the  oft-repeated  promises  of  its  perpetuity.  "  In 
thee  and  in  thy  seed  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be 
blessed." 

The  human  frame  might  as  well  be  called  Man, 
without  the  head  and  brain,  as  the  Scriptures  a  di- 
vine revelation,  without  Genesis.  Most  justly  does 
Kurtz,  quoted  by  Lange,  remark  (History  of  the  Old 
Covenant,  i.  j).  46),  that  "the  Pentateuch  is  the  liv- 
ing foundation,  and  the  necessary  presumption  of  the 
whole  Old  Testament  history,  not  less  than  of  the 
entire  Old  Testament  literature.  Both  of  these,  and 
with  them  Christendom,  as  their  fruit  and  comple- 
tion, would  resemble  a  tree  without  roots,  if  the  com- 
position of  the  Pentateuch  were  transferred  to  a  later 
period  of  Israelitish  liistor}-." 

And  to  any  later  period  than  that  of  Moses,  or  to 
any  other  author,  it  can  not  be  transferred,  without 
in  the  first  place  making  Moses  himself  the  primeval 
forger,  and  every  subsequent  assumed  or  conjectured 
Writer  in  his  name  a  double  forger,  an  inventor  of 


'^6  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

lies,  and  of  the  name  and  inspiration  of  Moses  to 
account  for  them  and  give  them  currency. 

Including  Genesis,  the  Pentateuch  is  recognized  as 
Moses'  work  by  all  the  historians  and  prophets  of  the 
Old  Testament;  by  the  Apocryphal  writers;  by  Philo, 
Josephus,  and  all  the  New  Testament  writers;  and 
expressly  and  repeatedly  by  Christ  Himself.  If  then 
we  may  put  any  faith  in  united,  constant,  and  invari- 
able ancient  testimony,  the  Pentateuch  was  written 
BY  HIM. — See  Stuart  on  the  Old  Testament:  Critical 
History  and  Defence,  p.  49. 

But  now  come  a  series  of  disputes,  to  this  day 
not  ended,  among  the  most  learned  critics,  equal- 
ly learned  on  either  side,  maintaining  almost  as 
many  eras  and  authorships  for  tlie  Books  of  this 
same  Hebrew  literature,  as  there  have  been  cen- 
turies since  Moses  was  gathered  to  his  fathers.  It 
is  asserted  to  have  been  "a  nameless  multiplicity 
of  compositions  at  three,  four,  or  six  different  peri- 
ods" of  the  Hebrew  history;  and  yet  admitted,  each 
time,  by  the  Avhole  Jewish  nation,  prophets,  priests 
and  kings,  as  a  genuine  work  of  Moses.  Each  of 
these  critics  is  perfectly  confident  of  being  in  the 
rif^ht.  And  each  of  them  claims  the  power  of  de- 
termining with  absolute  certainty,  the  true  eras  of 
a  work  admitted  to  have  been  the  authoritative 
classic  of  the  Hebrew  hmguige  for  thro 2  thousand 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  '^y 

years;  claims  this  power  by  virtue  of  a  linguistic  in- 
fallibility of  insight,  in  regard  to  the  difierent  qual- 
ities of  style,  that  must  have  been  truly  superhuman, 
to  be  able  to  refer  those  varying  qualities,  with  such 
absolute  certainty,  to  the  times  and  cu'cumstances 
under  Avhicli  they  must  have  arisen. 

"A^Tiy  should  I  be  called  upon,"  exclaims  Prof. 
Stuart,  "to  believe  in  the  discriminating  powers  of 
an  Ewald  or  a  Lengerke,  when  these  powers  are 
exercised  as  they  have  j)lainly  been,  in  separating 
WHAT  God  and  Moses  and  the  SA-saouR  of  the  world 

HAVE   joined    together  ?  " 

The  argument  from  asserted  differences  in  style  is 
quite  unreliable,  and  is  seen  to  be  insufficient  even  by 
unlettered  judges,  when  they  find  the  destructive  crit- 
ics that  advance  it,  themselves  so  easily  taken  in,  as 
they  are  known  to  have  been,  by  the  publication  of 
the  stoiy  of  the  Amber  Witch,  by  Dr.  Eeuihold  of 
Gei-many,  professing  to  be  a  tale  of  olden  time,  and 
received  uni^Hcitly  as  such,  by  the  same  destructive 
critics,  on  the  ground  of  their  unerring  skill  in  de- 
tecting unquestionable  ancient  characteristics.  The 
author  of  this  memorable  joke  had  to  resort  to  the 
testimony  of  his  own  neighbors,  proved  to  have  been 
knowing  of  the  author's  undertaking,  at  the  very  time 
of  it,  in  order  to  maintain  the  authenticitj'  of  his 
own  style,    against  the   credulous   audacity  of  these 


yS  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

infallible  critics,  whom  tlie  ingenuity  of  his  own  gen- 
ius had  deceived.  There  are  gaps  in  the  argument 
of  the  erudite  critics  against  Moses  through  which 
theii'  opponents  could  drive  a  coach  and  six  of  criti- 
cal, historical,  and  philological  certainties. 

The  contradictions  of  these  jirofovindly  learned 
judges  and  experts  are  a  most  instructive  phenom- 
enon in  the  history  of  literature.  At  one  time  they 
say,  with  the  confidence  of  a  syllogism,  The  Hebrew 
of  the  Pentateuch  and  of  the  later  Hebrew  books  is 
of  the  same  stamp:  but  the  style  of  ]Moses  could 
not  possibl}^  have  been  so  much  like  that  of  the 
later  wi'iters:  ergo,  the  Pentateuch  must  have  been 
written  after  the  caplidbj. 

Again  they  insist  uj)on  a  difference  so  great  of  styles 
and  words,  archaisms  and  foreign  mixtures,  in  the 
Pentateuch  itself,  and  between  3Ioses  and  later  authors, 
that  it  must  have  had  many  autJiorahips,  eras,  and  in- 
ventors,  to  constitute  what  Prof.  Stuart  justly  called 
such  an  OUapodrida  as  they  make  of  it;  such  a  Corpus 
Auctorum  Omnium,  descriptively  distinguished  by  each 
author's  peculiarities  of  style  and  diction.  And  they 
insist  upon  almost  every  jDeriod  from  Joshua  to  the 
Maccabees,  as  probable  and  proper  for  the  various 
production  of  its  separate  parts. 

The.  Aramaisms,  found  here  and  there  in  the  He- 
brow  of  the  Old  Testament,  may  liavj   bajun   with 


Faith,  DoiLbt,  and  Evidence.  yg 


the  very  confusion  of  tongues,  and  been  in  use  with 
Abraham  himself,  and  his  relatives  and  descendants. 
And  certainly  the  Jegar-sahadutha  of  Laban  in  Gen. 
xxxi.  47,  noted  in  the  margin  of  our  translation  as 
Chaldaic,  and  side  by  side,  the  Galeed  of  Jacob,  both 
signifying  the  heap  of  ioUnessc.%  show  the  coexistence 
of  the  Aramaic  dialect  with  the  Hebrew  at  that  pe- 
riod. And  there  are  similar  indications  all  along  the 
history,  down  to  the  very  time  when  Solomon  him- 
self was  forming  his  own  style,  and  from  his  acquaint- 
ance and  intercourse  with  other  kingdoms,  enrichino- 
his  vocabuhuy.  The  wonder  is  that  the  Aramaic 
mixtures  are  so  few,  so  Uttle  tinging  the  surface,  or 
disturbing  the  deep  tide  of  the  Hebrew,  generation 
after  generation,  for  a  thousand  years. 

If  the  Canaanites,  and  other  races,  by  whom  the 
Israehtes  were  seduced  to  mingle  even  with  God's 
worship  so  many  idolatrous  abominations,  had  made 
the  same  ini-oads  and  conquests  of  corruption  in  the 
language  as  they  did  in  the  morals  and  manners  of 
the  people,  they  would  have  become  such  as  Nehe- 
miah  found  some  of  them  that  had  married  wives 
of  Ashdod,  Ammon  and  Moab,  with  their  children 
speaking  "  half  in  the  speech  of  Ashdod,  and  unable  to 
speak  in  the  Jews'  language,  but  according  to  the 
language  of  each  people  "— Neh.  xiii.  23,  24.  As  late 
as  the  reign  of  Hezekiah  it  is  seen  (II  Kings  xviiL 


So  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


26)  that  only  the  higher  class  in  Jerusalem  could 
understand  the  Assj'rian  language,  but  the  common 
people  could  noi  The  officers  of  Hezekiah  entreated 
Rabshakeh  to  make  his  communications  in  the  lan- 
guage of  his  master,  and  not  in  Hebrew  to  the  Jews. 
But  the  great  Ass;)T.'ian  scofier  and  railer  immediately 
jDoured  out  his  billingsgate  upon  the  x^eople  in  the 
Jews'  lano-uaofe. 


XII. 


ERAS,  PERMANENCE,  AND  SAMENESS  OF  THE  HE- 
BREW LANGUAGE— A  SHECHINAH  OF  GOD'S  PRES- 
ENCE—URIM  AND  TIIUMMIM   FOR  THE  SOUL. 

Not  till  a  much  later  period,  not  till  the  Canon  of 
divine  inspiration  was  completed,  and  the  whole  ready 
for  translation,  was  there  that  rapid  disuse  of  He- 
brew and  introduction  of  the  Sp-iac,  which  ended  in 
the  prevalence  of  the  latter  dialect,  along  with  the 
Greek;  the  Hebrew  having  become  practically  a  dead 
language  at  the  time  of  Christ,  though  incorruptibly 
preserved  in  the  pages  of  the  Old  Testament.  Those 
j)ages  contained  the  prophetic  and  historic  inspix'ed 
demonstrations  to  which  Christ  was  to  make  his  aj)- 
peals,  and  God  had  kept  the  original  language  of 
His    own   revelation!   unchanged   from   age    to   age, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Eindcncc.  8i 

never  permitting  the  written  instrumentalities  of  His 
grace,  the  conveyancers  of  His  thouglits,  to  be  de- 
graded by  adoption  of  the  utterances  of  idolaters. 

It  was  a  gi'and  religious,  praA'erful  hallcluia  tongue, 
worthy  to  have  been  given  to  Adam  and  Eve  in  Eden 
for  communion  with  God  and  the  angels,  as  perhaps 
it  ?c"a.s'  given;  and  in  the  art  of  writing,  worthy  of 
God's  own  autograph  in  tables  of  stone.  And  God 
kept  the  sacred,  unsullied  verbal  purity  of  this  rev- 
elation for  every  age,  by  His  inspu'ing  Spu'it  in  the 
mind,  heart,  and  genius  of  His  prophets  from  Moses 
and  David  down  to  Isaiah,  Habakkuk,  and  Malachi. 
"My  words,  which  I  have  put  in  thy  mouth,  and  my 
SpiraT  that  is  ui^on  thee,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy 
moiath,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of 
the  mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed,  saith  the  Lord,  from 
henceforth  and  forever." — Is.  lix.  21. 

The  river  of  their  language  was  God's  blessing  for 
the  people  of  Palestine  like  the  Nile  for  Egyj^t.  It 
was  as  the  dew  on  Hermon,  as  the  snows  and  cedars 
of  Lebanon,  as  the  voice  of  many  waters,  as  the 
thunder  of  the  whirlwind,  as  the  still  small  voice  en- 
tering the  contrite  and  adoring  soul.  The  voices  of 
immortality,  eternity,  the  outcries  of  guilt,  hope,  and 
despair  poured  through  it;  the  trials,  miseries,  spir- 
itual anguish  and  faith  of  Job;  the  jorayers  of  Moses, 
the  man  of  God;  the  confessions,  supplications  and 


S2  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

praises  of  David,  Solomon,  Asaph,  Jonab,  Hezekiah, 
Isaiali,  Jeremiah,  Daniel,  Ezekiel;  snch  measureless 
heights  and  depths  of  contrasted  and  vet  divinely 
taught  spiritual  exjoerience,  through  fifty  generations 
of  men  seeicing  after  God,  and  fiiulinj  Ilim,  their  por- 
tion, their  redemption,  their  dwelling-jijlace,  their  life, 
their  refuge  forever.  "In  God  will  I  praise  His 
AYord;  in  Jehovah  will  I  praise  His  Word."  God 
Himself  was  in  it,  His  way  in  the  sea.  His  path  in  the 
great  Avaters.  It  was  the  river,  "  the  streams  whereof 
shall  make  glad  the  City  of  God,  the  holy  place  of 
the  tal)ernacles  of  the  Most  High." 

Herder  called  this  language  "  an  abyss  of  verbs 
and  verbal  derivatives,  a  sea  of  energetic  expressions, 
agitated  and  tossing  with  life  and  motion."  It  could 
put  earthquakes  and  lightnings  into  single  words. 
Nouns  are  used  as  adjectives;  every  noun  looking  to 
the  verb  as  its  ancestor,  and  transmitting  the  original 
strength  to  its  derivations;  still  preserving  through 
aU  changes  the  life  and  energy  of  the  j^arent  stock. 
Conjunction,  pronoun,  and  verb  may  form  but  one 
word;  object,  subject,  and  predicate  may  be  uttered 
in  one.  The  very  tenses  were  interchangeably  a  con- 
centration of  past,  present,  and  to  come;  an  image  of 
the  Incarnate  "Word  from  the  beginning;  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever. 

It  was  a  language  of  bold  j^ersonifications  and  pow- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  Sj 

erfiil  metaphors,  investing  abstract  ideas  and  inani- 
mate objects  with  all  the  vivid  attributes  of  existence. 
The  morning  stars  are  wuh  of  the  dawn;  arrows  are 
sons  of  the  bow,  or  of  the  quiver;  the  hills  are  girded  ivilh 
exultation;  the  deep  ultercth  its  voice  and  hftdh  up  its 
hands  on  high;  the  ark  waJls  upon,  the  face  of  the  ivaiers; 
the  blood  of  Abel  cries  from  the  ground;  death  is  the 
king  of  terrors,  and  the  shadow  of  death  is  on  the  eyelids; 
the  neck  of  the  war-horse  is  clothed  with  thunder.  The 
voice  of  Jehovah  hrcukelh  the  cedars  of  Lebanon;  the 
mountains  skij)  like  sons  of  the  unicorn.  The  i:)illars 
of  heaven  itself  tremble  and  are  astonished  at  His  re- 
jjroof.  Hell  is  naked  before  Him,  and  destruction 
hath  no  covering.  He  haugeth  the  earth  upon  noth- 
ing. His  voice  divideth  the  lightnings.  It  is  God 
everywhere,  and  Nature  itself  worshipping  and  obe- 
dient, and  vocal  with  praise. 

The  permanent,  original,  organic  structui'e  of  the 
language,  its  subhmity,  its  jiathos,  its  simi^licity, 
strength,  conciseness,  its  searching,  penetrating  in- 
ti'oversions,  its  expressions  as  earthquakes,  its  figura- 
tive power,  its  fitness  at  once  for  rural,  peaceful,  and 
teri'ific  imagery,  the  dew  and  the  deluge,  the  soft 
descending  showers  and  the  great  raiu  of  God's 
strength,  its  nervous  compactness  and  at  the  same 
time  cajDacity  of  exuberant,  gorgeous,  fiery  and  se- 
raphic eloquence,  its  proverbial  and  pai-abohc  terse- 


84  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ness  and  intense  concentration  of  tliouglit  and  feeling, 
its  cqvial  facility  for  the  highest  possible  grandeur  and 
sweetest  and  most  artless  simpHcity  whether  of  po- 
etry or  i:)rose,  its  lightning  flashes,  points  and  dia- 
monds, its  creative  spii"ituality,  its  watchwords  of  eter- 
nity and  infinitude,  all  made  it  the  hiding  of  God's 
power,  a  Shechinah  of  God's  presence,  the  means  of 
fulfilling  God's  predictions  of  the  people  that  should 
dwell  alone,  and  not  be  reckoned  among  the  na- 
tions. From  childhood  it  was  as  a  Urim  and  Thum- 
mim  for  the  soul's  discipline;  and  for  the  tribes  a 
divine  magnetism,  binding  them  in  a  mental  girdle 
of  intensest  hereditai'y  nationahty  and  patriotism, 
stronger  than  the  rite  of  their  physical  lineage. 
Much  every  way  was  the  advantage,  cliiefly,  because 
that  unto  them  were  committed  the  ok.\cles  of  God, 
and  the  stewardship  itself  exalted  and  preserved  the 
nation,  even  though  the  nation  broke  the  law;  till 
Christ  came,  the  Light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and 
the  glory  of  His  people  Israel. 

If  the  preservation  of  such  purity  of  language,  in 
such  combined  ruggedness,  wealth,  and  seclusivencss 
of  diction,  is  suiin-ising,  it  is  not  more  so  than  tha 
amazing  unchangeable  spiritual  and  literal  correspon- 
dencies and  unities  of  such  a  mviltiplicity  of  Scripture 
Manuscripts  in  the  j^rogress  of  so  wide  a  distribu- 
tion through  distant  centuries  and  tongues;   but  in 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  8^ 

all  their  testimonies  maintaining  such  indestructible 
unity  as  to  the  attributes  and  revealed  truths  of  God, 
and  the  great  doctrines  thus  known  to  be  essential 
to  the  salvation  of  the  sovil.  If  guardian  angels  had 
been  stationed  at  evei\y  chapter,  no  greater  unanimity 
could  have  been  secured,  no  greater  protection  from 
injury. 

Everywhere  the  Hebrew  Word  was,  as  described 
by  Peter,  the  Word  of  God,  that  liveth  and  abideth 
forever,  Emmanuel,  God  with  us;  as  described  by 
Paul,  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  discerning  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart;  in  its  very  character  and 
elements  separate  from  sinners,  yet  laying  hold  ui)on 
them  with  mercy  and  love;  reproving  sin,  requu'ing 
holiness,  teaching  faith,  penitence,  prayer,  submission, 
confidence  in  God's  promises;  the  life  of  love,  the 
beauty  of  holiness,  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin;  in 
all  things  the  prophetic  incarnation  of  a  Savioiu',  and 
a  language  for  preparing,  and  afterwards  demonstrat- 
ing, the  way  of  the  Lord. 

So  was  it  a  sacred  speech,  given  and  wi'ought  out, 
on  purpose  to  be  translated  into  all  languages,  and 
endowed  with  a  forecasting,  foreshortening,  forehold- 
ing  and  despotic  fitness  for  infusing  its  own  meaning 
and  spirit  into  whatever  dialect.  A  language  that 
was  to  wait,  in  its  j^erfection  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
till  the  Greek  tongue  should  have  been  prepai-ed  for 


86  FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  conveyance  of  its  saving  truths  to  all  nations. 
Then  came  the  Septuagiut  translation,  in  that  dia- 
lect of  the  gospel-Plato;  the  oldest  of  all  the  ver- 
sions whatever  of  the  Old  Testament;  and  for  it,  a 
jjeople  using  that  tongue  as  their  vernacular,  to  re- 
ceive and  transmit  its  newly  acquired  treasui'es  aU 
over  the  world  From  David  and  Solomon  back- 
wards to  !Moses,  whose  Pentateuch  was  certainly  the 
beginning,  and  in  many  respects  the  perfection  of 
the  Hebrew  language  and  literature,  there  is  not  a 
solitary  remnant  of  composition,  the  elements  of 
which  are  not  on  the  whole  perfectly  similar,  and 
equally  intelligible  to  the  minds  of  all  who  could 
read  their  native  dialect.  There  are  no  intervals  of 
time,  or  causes  sullicient  to  i^roduce  or  account  for 
any  such  changes  in  the  language,  or  in  its  gram- 
matical or  verbal  forms,  as  took  place  in  the  English 
language,  for  example  during  the  period  between 
the  eras  of  AVicklili'e  and  Chaucer  and  that  of  Shak- 
Bpeare,  or  between  the  era  of  Sir  John  MandevUle  and 
that  of  Addison,  Goldsmith,  Johnson,  and  Burke. 

There  are  better  arguments  for  aflirmiiig  and  l;e- 
lieving  that  Burke  could  not  liave  been  the  autlior 
of  the  "Letters  on  a  Kegicidc  Peace,"  and  of  the  "  Es- 
say on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful,"  than  there  are  that 
Solomon  could  not  have  been  the  auth(n*  of  pjcclesi- 
astes,  and  also  of  Proverbs  and  the  Canticles.     The 


Faith,  Donbty  and  Eiidcncc.  Sj 

Hebrew  language  is  essentijilly  the  same  in  lUl  the 
books  known  to  have  been  in  possession  of  the  He- 
brews from  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  times  of  David 
and  Sokimon;  moi-e  identiojU  than  the  EngHsh  lan- 
guage as  developed  in  the  pages  of  Alfi'ed  luid  Chau- 
cer, Shjxkspeare  and  Bacon.  Now  it  hjts  been  af- 
firmed that  Lord  Bacon  wrote  Sh;\kspeai"e's  plavs,  but 
never  that  Shivkspejwe  wrote  Loi'd  Bacon's  "  Essays,'* 
or  the  "  Abridgment  of  Leixrning."  But  conceive 
the  arivgiuice  of  a  Fivnch  or  Itjvliau  critic  of  English 
literature,  wlio  should  atlirm  that  because  of  the  many 
modern  words  and  inticctious,  as  well  as  character- 
istic qujilities  of  style,  it  is  cleiu"  that  neither  Shak- 
speare  nor  Bacon  could  have  written  at  an  earlier 
period  than  tliat  of  Thackeray  or  Charles  Dickens! 
The  truth  is  that  so  great  and  renuuk.ably  identical 
ai'e  the  forms  and  qualities  of  the  Hebi*ew  tongue 
and  yet  so  varied  the  genius  of  the  writei"s  of  it,  that 
remain  to  us,  that  for  every  criticism  and  line  of 
argument  assigning  one  period  for  the  authoi"sliip 
of  any  one  book,  we  cvnild  bring  an  opposite  hy- 
l>othesis  oi  cijual  pxxibability  for  another.  Such  dif- 
ferent theories  have  in  fact  been  projx^undcd  and 
ai'gucd  as  incontrovertible  by  the  most  learned 
critics. 

The   tinostions   as  to  w':\o  wrote   the   book   oi  tbib, 
and   when    was    it    written,    luv    still    disputed,    and 


SS  FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

probably  always  will  be.  The  array  of  scholars  on 
either  side,  from  tlie  period  of  Moses  down  to  that 
of  Jeremiah  and  the  captivity,  both  i:)roves  the  im- 
possibility of  deciding,  and  the  acknowledged  same- 
ness of  the  Hebrew  language,  for  more  than  fifteen 
hundi-ed  j^ears;  so  that  the  author  of  the  book  may 
have  been  any  inspired  man  of  genius  from  the  era  of 
the  Patriarchs  down  to  that  of  Malachi.  In  fact,  while 
a  great  number  of  critics  contend  that  the  book  was 
written  before  the  time  of  Moses,  many  others,  with 
equal  positiveness  refer  it  to  the  time  of  Solomon, 
and  others  to  the  Chaldee  j^eriod,  about  the  time  of 
Jeremiah.  Others  cut  up  the  book  and  its  con- 
tents into  different  periods,  and  deny  altogether  the 
genuineness  of  some  of  its  most  important  and  in- 
structive chapters  and  characters.  Thus  it  is  mani- 
fest that  no  reliance  whatever  can  be  placed  yx^on 
these  critical  opinions;  but  the  historic  reality  and 
truth  of  the  books  in  question  remain  unimpeached. 


Faith,  Doubt y  and  Evidence.  8g 


XIII. 

RESTLESSNESS  OF  SCEPTICAL  SAGACITY— FRANKLIN 
ON  SCOURING  THE  ANCHOR— AN  INFALLIBLE  IN- 
SPIRATION  NECESSARY. 

There  seems  no  end  to  the  restlessness  and  pride 
of  the  sceptical  sagacity  of  modern  critics,  and  its 
capacity'  of  supporting"  the  most  frivolous  conjectures 
with  an  arra}'  of  arguments  and  erudition,  till  quan- 
tity alone  shall  supply  the  place  of  proof.  It  is  a 
blessing  that  this  passion  for  conjectural  criticism, 
and  destructive  experiments  with  acids,  is  applied  to 
so  useful  a  purpose  as  that  which  it  really  and  unin- 
tentionally has  accomplished,  namely,  the  testing  of 
the  metal  and  brightening  the  links  of  our  BibHcal 
Christian  faith.  The  self-satisfaction  and  contentment 
of  the  workmen  in  this  undertaking  remind  us  of  one 
of  FrankUn's  anecdotes,  scattered  with  such  cun'om 
felicita-i  and  exquisite  hearty  humor  through  his 
Memoirs. 

The  Indians  had  burned  Gnadenhut,  a  village  set- 
tled by  the  Moravians,  and  Franklin  had  been  ap- 
pointed mihtary  commander  to  take  charge  of  the 
north-western  frontier  of  Pennsylvania,  mth  five  hun 
dred  and  sixty  recruits  under  his  command,  whose 
Cfreat  work   at    first  was   to   build   a   stockade    fort 


go  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidetice. 

against  the  Indians,  mounted  with  one  swi'vel  gun, 
which  they  fired  as  soon  as  fixed,  to  let  the  Indians 
know  that  they  had  such  pieces;  and  this  business 
was  finished  in  a  week,  though  it  rained  so  hard 
every  other  daj',  that  the  men  could  not  work. 

"  This  gave  me  occasion,"  says  Franklin,  "  to  ob- 
serve that  when  men  are  employed,  they  are  best 
contented;  for  on  the  days  they  worked  they  were 
good-natured  and  cheerful,  and,  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  having  done  a  good  day's  work,  they  spent 
tlie  evening  joUil}';  but  on  our  idle  days  they  were 
mutinous  and  quarrelsome,  finding  fault  with  their 
pork,  bread,  etc.,  and  in  continual  ih-humor;  which 
put  me  in  mind  of  a  sea  captain,  whose  rule  it  was 
to  keep  his  men  constantly  at  work;  and  when  his 
mate  once  told  him  they  had  done  every  thing,  and 
there  was  nothing  further  to  employ  them  about, 
'  Oh,'  says  he,  'make  (hem  scour  the  anchor.'"  He  might 
have  added,  'Tis  the  biggest  thing  they  have  to 
handle;  make  them  scour  it  bright. 

The  workmen  of  Satan  are  scouring  the  anchor 
of  our  faith,  and  making  it  every  day  more  mani- 
fest, though  they  do  not  even  believe  in  its  existence, 
nor  in  that  invisible  world  of  retribution  according 
to  character,  whei'e,  within  the  veil,  it  is  cast,  nor 
friend  nor  foe  can  move  it.  But  the  chain  cable  of 
evidence,  by  which  in  this  world  we  lay  hold  upon 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  gi 

it,  is  visible  tlirougli  all  the  generations  of  mankind. 
In  our  own  day,  what  incredible  multitudes  of  schol- 
ars are  at  work  upon  it,  seemingly,  with  equal  con- 
tentment and  dehght;  some  to  break  its  links,  or 
reduce  it  to  nothing  better  than  a  rope  of  sand.  B)it 
in  the  end,  all  are  working  out  the  same  result  of 
scouring  and  strengthening,  brightening  and  con- 
firming the  Word  of  Truth  Divine,  by  which  the 
world  of  souls  is  held  to  God  our  Saviour.  Once 
men  sneered  at  the  iron  links,  as  being  all  rust;  now 
they  are  so  busy,  hammering  and  filing,  that  no  more 
rust  can  possibly  gather  or  remain. 

It  is  through  a  vast  and  complicated  moral  and 
spiritual  as  well  as  critical  filtration,  that  the  gospels 
and  epistles  have  come  down  to  us  in  their  purity. 
No  documentary  evidence  in  any  literature  is  to  be 
compared  for  certainty  and  strength  with  that  of  the 
foundations  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  resvilt  of  the 
j)rofoundest  scholarship,  industry,  and  scientific  skUl, 
through  the  investigations  of  four  thousand  years, 
by  enemies  and  friends,  has  been  only  a  scoiiring  of 
the  anchor  and  strengthening  of  the  hnks  of  our  spir- 
itual certainties;  a  purification  of  seed  for  the  sower 
and  bread  for  the  eater  to  all  gcnerat'ons  \  as  been 
accomplished,  till  between  the  upper  and  nether  mill- 
stones of  our  knowledge  and  our  reasoning,  our  his- 
tory and  experience,  nothing  on  earth  is  so  perfectly 


g2  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ascertained  for  the  satisfaction  of  a  candid  mind ; 
notliiug  of  pliilosopb}-  or  science  arrayed  beneath  the 
seals  of  such  incontrovertible  and  irresistible  security. 
The  question  of  an  original  gospel  from  which  all 
four  di'ew  their  materials,  and  which  all  foui-  rehed 
upon,  has  been  debated,  as  if  it  were  some  appi-oxi- 
mation  to  a  settlement  of  certainties.  But  what  cer- 
tainty is  possible  A\ithout  that  of  a  divine  inspu-ation? 
And  that  is  not  possible  to  decide  but  by  internal, 
evidence.  "SMio  ever  beheld  the  invisible  restraining 
or  impelling  monitor  in  the  mind  of  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  or  John,  withholding  from  falsehood,  dii'ecting 
to  the  selection  of  facts,  guiding  the  judgment,  re- 
cording the  processes  of  divine  reasoning,  thought, 
feehng,  purpose,  in  the  mind  of  Christ,  the  processes 
of  wonder,  astonishment,  conviction,  faith,  repentance, 
unbelief,  or  gratitude  and  love,  in  the  hearts  of  mul- 
titudes; the  characters  of  priests  and  people  unveiled, 
photographed  by  themselves  passing  before  the  divine 
camera;  the  succession  of  witnesses  and  records  of 
secret  jn-ocesses  known  only  to  the  Omniscient,  and 
incapable  of  being  imagined;  the  exquisite  touches 
of  light  upon  the  dark  places  of  souls  koe])ing  out 
of  it;  such  as  in  that  record  in  Mark  ix.,  "What  was 
it  that  ye  disputed  among  yourselves  by  the  way? 
And  thoy  Jn'hl  Ih'ir  peace,  for  by  the  way  tliry  had  dis- 
jnded  asnotvj  tlvmselccs  icJio  sliouhl  be  IJie  gn\y:.'s!." 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence .  gj 

Moreover,  the  record  of  Chi-ist's  conversations 
and  instructions,  too  precious  to  be  held  in  tradi- 
tion merely,  too  important  in  their  verbal  accuracy 
to  be  recalled  by  unaided  memoiy,  too  sacred  to 
be  varied,  except  in  words  which  the  Holy  Grhost 
teacheth,  and  in  which  the  variations  would  serve 
to  present  and  transmit  the  truth  more  exactly,  in 
aU  its  Ughts  and  possible  meanings,  as  God  should 
j)lease;  these,  and  a  hundred  other  things,  were  re- 
quisites of  divine  insjiiration  by  which  alone  could 
any  Gospel  for  the  whole  of  mankind  and  for  all 
ages,  infallible  and  all-sufficient,  be  prepared,  or  any 
original  set  before  the  mind,  from  which  copies  could 
be  taken.  And  so,  the  claim  of  inspiration  announced 
in  the  2d  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  is  just 
this,  ""We  have  the  mind  of  Christ,  that  your  faith 
should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  man,  but  in  the 
power  of  God."  The  mind  of  Chi'ist  for  the  repro- 
duction of  the  truth  of  Christ,  in  whom  alone  is 
life,  and  the  life  is  the  light  of  men.  "  For  the  things 
of  God  knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spii'it  of  God,  and 
we  have  received,  not  the  spirit  of  the  world,  but 
the  Spirit  which  is  of  God,  that  we  might  know  the 
things  that  are  freely  given  to  us  of  God,  which  things 
also  we  si:)eak,  not  in  the  words  which  man's  wdsdom 
teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth;  com- 
paring spiritual  things  with  spiritual." 


g-f  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Ejidcii::. 

If  any  thing  is  taught  here,  and  to  be  received, 
because  of  its  infinite  imiioilance,  it  is  the  ti'uth  of 
a  verbal  inspiration;  such  an  inspiration  being  both 
argued,  as  necessaiy  to  the  perfect  conveyance  of 
the  mind  of  Chiist,  and  the  full  beHef,  understand- 
ing, and  interpretation  of  the  same;  for  which  also 
the  same  Holy  Spirit  is  given,  and  is  promised  to 
be  always  imparted  in  answer  to  prayer.  Here  is 
absolute  security  for  our  faith,  because  the  gift  of 
this  Spirit  is  free  to  all,  so  that  aU  may  become  its 
possessors  and  God's  witnesses.  So  that  we  can  not 
be  sufficiently  grateful  for  these  immutable  mort- 
gages, given  us  of  God  in  Christ,  on  the  certainty 
of  our  heavenly  inheritance,  if  only  we  beheve  in 
Him,  and  pray  to  God  for  mercy  in  His  name.  And 
blessed  be  God,  all  that  men  need  is  thus  to  believe 
and  pray  and  act  accordingly. 

Now  if  the  Scriptures  were  not  to  be  relied  upon  for 
absolute  veracity  in  things  concerning  other  men,  and 
in  the  historic  settings  of  providence  and  events  in 
and  through  which  the  predictions  concerning  Christ 
had  their  beginning  and  reality,  how  could  they  be 
relied  upon  as  notices  concerning  Him?  Coiild  the 
veracity  of  the  Mosaic  account  concerning  Abraham, 
or  concerning  Moses  himuself  be  impeached,  all  their 
rehabUity  would  fail  as  an  indisputable  reference 
concerning  the   Saviour   to   come.     If   those   Script- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  pj 


ures  could  not  be  trusted  as  authority  concerning 
the  creation  of  man  originally  in  God's  image,  and 
his  loss  of  that  image  by  sin,  they  certainly  could 
not  concerning  his  new  creation  by  gi'ace,  and  the 
restoration  of  that  image  through  the  incarnation, 
sufierings,  and  death  of  Christ.  The  testimony  con- 
cerning Chiist  in  the  Scriptui'es  extended  over  the 
■whole  range  of  those  Scriptures  fi'om  Genesis  to  Mal- 
achi.  Its  infaUibiUty  was  grounded  in  the  fact  that 
all  those  Scriptui-es  were  the  Word  of  God.  They 
could  not  be  the  "Word  of  God  merel}-  in  those  jDas- 
sages  that  Chi-ist  selected  for  exposition,  and  the 
word  of  man  and  faUible,  in  the  whole  coiu'se  of 
providential  and  historical  narrative,  any  more  than 
the  painting  of  the  ti'ansfigui'ation  could  be  rehed 
upon  as  Raphael's,  if  you  covdd  not  beUeve  that 
Raphael  designed  it,  and  gave  the  central  figure  its 
relative  position.  If  you  accuse  tlie  writers  of  mis- 
takes in  other  things,  you  ai'e  bound  to  demonstrate 
those  mistakes,  and  when  you  have  done  this,  then 
it  will  be  in  order  to  weigh  them  against  the  testi- 
mony of  Chi'ist,  that  the  books  containing  those  mis- 
takes and  sending  them  down  to  postcrit}'  as  records 
of  truth  were  the  Word  of  God.  "When  that  demon- 
stration is  given  to  the  world,  then  and  not  till  then 
can  vou  invalidate  that  testimouv. 


p<5  Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XIV. 

CATALOGUES  AND  QUALITIES  OF  AUTHORITIES  — 
TISCHENDORF'S  DISCOVERY  —  METHODS  OF  DE- 
STRUCTION—CERTAINTIES  OF   RESULTS. 

Let  us  glauce  now  at  tlie  list  of  our  indisputable 
autliorities,  and  theii'  remarkable  agreement,  througli 
a  period  beginning  with  our  first  knowledge  of  the 
creation  (through  faith  understanding  that  the  worlds 
were  framed  by  the  AVord  of  God),  and  continuing 
unabated  to  the  jjresent  hour. 

It  is  the  catalogue,  undisputed,  1st,  of  Ancient 
Manuscripts;  2d,  of  Ancient  Versions,  and  3d,  Quo- 
tations from  the  Scriptures  in  the  books  of  ancient 
writers. 

The  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  greatly 
preponderate,  both  in  number  and  in  age.  Those  of 
the  Old  Testament  have  come  down  to  us  from  orig- 
inals wholly  in  the  keej^iug  of  the  Jews,  but  neither 
in  Hebrew  nor  Greek  do  we  possess  au}'  known  and 
acknowledged  autographs. 

Three  thousand  Hebrew  and  Greek  manuscripts  in 
the  si:)ace  of  some  four  thousand  years,  are  foiind  con- 
curring in  their  testimony,  after  the  most  intense  and 
lynx-eyed  examinatioii,  with  such  unanimity,  that  the 


Failh,  Doubi,  and  Evidence.  gy 

truths  first  dimly  revealed  have  been  steadily  grow- 
ing in  clearness,  distinctness,  and  vastness  of  scope. 
The  jDrimal  nebulne  have  been  discovered  as  clusters 
of  distinct  stars.  The  gravitation  of  all  these  worlds 
is  towards  the  same  centre;  the  law  of  theii'  unity 
the  same.  AjJijaz-ent  aberrations  have  been  found 
hai-monious  with  the  whole.  Not  a  single  com- 
ma, misplacement  or  vacuum  or  accident  of  copy- 
ing, or  intrusion  of  glosses,  contradicts  one  of  the 
grand  truths,  or  interrupts  or  renders  indistinct  or 
doubtfid  theu'  congruity  or  the  oneness  of  their 
testimony. 

Among  these  treasures  there  are  only  five  Greek 
manuscripts  of  a  date  so  early  as  the  fourth  and 
sixth  centuries.  From  the  fourth  to  the  tenth  cen- 
turies we  have  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  in  uncial 
characters;  that  is,  written  in  Greek  capital  letters. 
From  the  tenth  to  the  fifteenth  centuries,  we  have 
fourteen  hundred  and  fifty-six  manuscripts  in  cursive 
or  running  hand  of  small  characters,  with  capital  let- 
ters only  at  the  beginning  of  sentences  or  paragraphs. 
Greek  manuscripts  are  divided  into  two  classes 
the  earliest  being  named  vncia},  or  written  with  cai:>i- 
tal  letters,  unconnected  with  cacji  other,  and  with 
no  spaces  between  the  words;  the  latest,  cursive,  or 
in  running  hand  letters,  with  complete  punctuation, 
much  as  in  printed  books.     The  Greek  manuscripts 


gS  Faith,  Doubl,  and  Evidence. 

of  the  New  Testament  from  the  foiu'th  century  to 
the  tenth  were  in  uncial  letters,  but  from  the  ninth 
or  tenth  century  to  the  invention  of  printing  the 
cursive  letters  were  employed. 

The  term  uncial  seems  to  have  been  derived  fi-oro 
the  word  uncia,  an  inch,  denoting  the  size  of  the 
letters.  After  the  tenth  centxiry  many  manuscripts 
bear  dates;  the  earliest  dated  being  a.  r>.  949. 

Twelve  hiuidred  and  seventy-seven  separate  Greek 
manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  are  cai-efuUy  de- 
scribed by  Scrivener,  with  an  index  of  the  countries 
and  places  where  they  are  now  deposited. 

Our  fii-st  word  for  paper  comes  from  the  Nile  and 
the  cradle  of  Moses,  Ttdnv/jo?, — Latin,  papyrus, — being 
the  name  of  the  Egj-ptian  rush  or  flag,  of  the  liher  of 
which,  or  the  imier  fibrous  bai-k,  came  the  most  com- 
mon material  on  which  books  were  written  by  the 
Greeks  and  Romans;  whence  came  the  Latin  name 
for  a  book.     Parchment  was  a  much  later  invention 
by  the  King  of  Pergamus,   and  was  a  term  apphed 
to  the  integuments  of  sheep  or  goats,  mtvnufitctured 
into  a  writing  material     Brande  says  that  as  eaiiy 
as  the  beginning  of  the  eighUi   centm-y  the  use  of 
papyrus  for  writing  was  almost  entu-ely  superseded 
tuty.  parclmient,  which  was  in  famihar  use  when  the 
curring  in  then*'\t  was  written.     No    existing    MS.    of 
lynx-eyed  examinatio".  is  written  on  papyrus. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  gg 

The  earliest  example  on  vellum  it  is  supposed  can 
not  date  higher  than  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century. 

Towards  the  end  of  that  century  a  practice  be- 
came prevalent  of  dying  the  vellvim  purj)le,  and 
stamping  the  letters  in  silver  and  gold.  This  in- 
creased the  preciousness  and  beauty  of  the  volumes, 
and  made  a  library  the  greatest  of  treasures. 

But  vellum  became  so  scarce  and  dear  that  at  an 
early  period  of  the  Christian  era  the  jiractice  arose 
of  erasing  the  old  •first  writing  from  the  skins  em- 
ployed more  anciently,  to  make  room  for  writing 
new  manuscripts,  in  the  place  of  the  old.  Several 
of  the  most  precious  monuments  of  sacred  learning 
are  thus  preserved  termed  codices  rescripti  or  palimp- 
sesis  {7ttx\ijuip>/6ra)  erased,  and  written  again. 

The  Codex  Sinaiticus  (fourth  century),  discovered 
by  Tischendorf,  is  made  of  the  finest  skins  of  ante- 
lojDes,  the  leaves  being  so  large  that  a  smgle  animal 
would  furnish  only  two. 

The  Codex  Vaticanus,  contemporary-,  of  a  beauti- 
ful vellum,  a  term  sti'ictly  applied  to  the  delicate 
skins  of  very  young  cxlves. 

The  Codex  Alexandrinus  (fifth  century)  equally 
beaittiful. 

Previous  to  the  tenth  centm-y  existin  ;•  manuscripts 
of  the  New  Testament  could  be  found  only  by  tens; 
afterwards    bv   hundreds.     The    latest   dscovered   is 


100         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

tlie  Sinaitic  manuserJi^t  so  providentially  found  and 
rescued  from  destruction  by  Tiscliendorf  at  the  Con- 
veiat  of  St.  Catherine  on  Mount  Sinai.  The  monks  of 
that  Convent  had  been  accustomed  to  resort  to  their 
library  for  fuel  of  light-wood  to  kindle  the  fires  in 
their  stove.  How  much  precious  material  may  have 
been  destroyed  in  that  way,  who  can  tell  ?  In  a  bas- 
ketful of  i^ajDers  about  to  be  used  for  that  purpose, 
lor  the  comfort  of  their  visitor,  Tiscliendorf  noticed 
ft  number  of  vellum  leaves,  and  jjicking-  them  out  for 
examination,  found  that  they  contained  portions  of 
the  Septuagint  Yersion  of  the  Old  Testament,  forty- 
three  leaves  of  which  he  secured.  The  volume  to 
which  they  belonged  he  found  was  probably  as  an- 
cient as  the  fourth  century.  But  so  soon  as  the 
monks  learned  from  him  this  fact,  it  not  only  acted 
as  an  insurance  of  the  rest  of  their  treasures  from 
destruction  by  the  flames,  but  they  refused  to  let 
him  have  any  other  of  the  leaves  thus  rescued. 

In  1853,  he  was  there  again,  but  could  learn  noth- 
ing more  about  the  manuscripts,  and  abandoned  all 
hope  of  recovering  them  till  in  the  year  1859,  in  the 
month  of  February  being  again  at  the  monastery 
under  authorit}'  from  the  emperor  of  Russia,  a  man- 
uscript was  shown  to  him  by  the  steward,  which  he 
immediately  found  to  be  that  inestimable  complete 
copy   of  the  New   Testament   afterwai'ds   copied  by 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  loi 

him,  containing  three  hundred  and  forty -five  and 
a  half  leaves  of  beautiful  vellum,  one  hundred  and 
ninetv-nine  leaves  containing  jiortions  of  the  Sej^tua- 
gint,  and  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  and  a  half  the 
whole  New  Testament,  along  with  the  Epistle  of  Bar- 
nabas, and  part  of  the  Shej^herd  of  Hermas.  The 
date  was  supposed  to  have  been  the  middle  of  the 
fourth  century.  Meanwhile,  the  original  document 
was  presented  by  the  monks  to  the  emperor  of  Rus- 
sia. In  the  year  1882,  an  edition  of  three  hundred 
copies  was  published  by  the  emperor,  the  czar,  in 
commemoration  of  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  the 
emphe.  This  Sinaitic  manuscript  is  suj^jDosed  to 
be  one  of  the  fifty  copies  of  Scripture  prepared  by 
Eusebius,  a.  d.  331,  by  order  of  Constantine,  for  the 
use  of  the  churches  and  people  in  Constantinople. 

How  vast  and  dej^lorable  must  have  been  the  de- 
struction of  these  inestimable  treasru-es,  during  the 
dark  ages  of  Eomish  ignorance  and  superstition,  we 
are  enabled  to  guess  from  what  is  related  by  Boccacio 
of  his  own  experience  about  the  year  1350.  For  he 
says  that  on  asking  to  see  the  hbrary  of  the  cele- 
brated Monastery  of  Monte  Casino,  he  was  shmvn 
into  a  dusty,  doorless  room,  where  he  found  many 
of  the  valuable  MSS.  mutilated,  and  his  guide  told 
him,  that  the  monks  were  in  the  habit  of  tearing' 
leaves  from  the   codices,  to  turn  them  into  psalters 


102        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

for  chiklren,  or  amulets  for  -women,  which  they  would 
seU  for  four  or  five  soldi  apiece. 

Besides  this  method  of  destruction  there  was  that 
of  the  use  of  veUum  or  parchment  leaves  once  written 
ujDon  to  be  covered  by  new  works.  Old  manuscrijjts 
thus  usurj)ed  the  j)lace  of  new,  and  were  called,  as 
above,  palimpsests, — leaves  written  over  again.  The 
treatise  of  Cicero  De  Rej)ublica  was  found  in  the 
Vatican  Liln-ary  at  Rome  as  late  as  1825,  in  a  manu- 
scrij^t  which  had  been  covered  with  the  writing  of  a 
Commentary  of  St.  Augustine  on  the  Psalms.  Some 
fifty  years  earlier  a  palimpsest  book  of  Livy  was  dis- 
covered in  the  same  way. 

Buchanan  (Clnistian  Researches,  p.  312)  says  that 
when  he  questioned  the  Jews  concerning  the  old 
coj)ies  of  the  Scriptures,  which  had  been  read  in  the 
synagogues  from  age  to  age,  some  told  him  it  was 
usual  to  hurxj  them,  ivlien  decayed  by  lime  and  use.  Oth- 
ers said  that  this  was  not  always  the  case. 

The  scarcity  of  books  before  the  art  of  j^rinting 
was  so  great-,  that  a  single  volume  was  a  j^recious 
treasure.  A  thousand  manuscripts  made  an  exceed- 
ingl}'  large  library.  A  monastery  was  celebrated  that 
possessed  so  great  a  number.  Books  were  chained 
to  the  shelves  and  reading  desks  in  libraries,  to  be 
read  for  an  hour  or  two  by  readers  having  this  privi- 
lege in  tuiui.     A  copy  of  the  Bible  was  at  one  time 


Faith,  Dottbty  and  Evidence.         loj 

cliaiued  in  the  cliurches  for  the  use  of  such  persons 
as  could  read,  and  these  read  it  to  such  as  coidd  not. 

At  Cambridge  are  deposited  two  manuscripts  of 
the  Peshito  Syriac,  brought  by  Buchanan  in  1806 
from  the  Malabar  coast.  One  of  them  was  thought 
by  some  to  have  been  "vsaitten  about  the  seventh 
centui-y;  but  Mr.  Bensly  discovered  in  it  a  figure 
of  Joshua  in  armor,  of  the  time  of  the  crusades, 
and  reduced  its  date  to  the  eleventh  or  twelfth. — 
Scrivener's  Int.,  280. 

In  Buchanan's  Christian  Researches,  310-315,  there 
is  a  dcopty  interesting  account  of  the  Black  and  White 
Jews,  and  their  Manuscripts,  which  Buchanan  found, 
as  also  printed  Hebrew  books,  almost  in  eveiy  house. 
The  description  of  his  discoveries  in  Hebrew  is  as 
remarkable  as  Tischendorf's  in  the  New  Testament. 
One  of  the  MSS.  procui-ed  in  Malabar  was  an  old  copy 
of  the  Books  of  Moses,  written  on  a  roll  of  soft  flexible 
leather  composed  of  thirty-seven  skins  sewed  togeth- 
er, dyed  red,  the  whole  about  forty -eight  feet  in 
length,  twenty-two  inches  wide,  in  some  parts  worn 
oiit,  and  the  holes  sewed  up  with  pieces  of  parchment. 
It  had  been  used  in  the  worship  of  the  Synagogue. 
This  Manuscript  was  examined  in  England  and  com- 
pared, word  for  word,  letter  for  letter,  with  the  He- 
brew edition  of  Van  der  Hooght.  Only  forty  petty 
differences  were  found,  not  one  making  the  slightest 


104-         Faith,  Doubi,  and  Evidence. 

cliauge  in  the  interpretation,  being  only  the  presence 
or  absence  of  an  i  or  v  without  changing  the  power  of 
a  word. — See  Gaussen  on  Variations. 

Internal  evidence  sometimes  overpowers  the  strong- 
est external  testimony.  The  means  of  detecting  a 
mistake  in  the  date,  or  a  conclusion  in  regard  to  it, 
may  be  found  in  the  very  flourishes  of  the  writing,  the 
ornaments  that  adorn  the  page,  the  texture  of  the 
material.  How  many  are  the  instances  of  discovered 
forgeries  in  wills,  by  water  marks  chscerned  in  the 
j)aper  employed. 

But  when  we  get  at  the  conscience  and  heart  of  a 
manuscript  in  its  thoughts,  its  meaning,  the  demon- 
strations against  all  lying  may  be  Hke  the  appeal  of 
Solomon  by  the  sword,  to  the  affections  of  the  real 
mother,  bringing  out  as  in  symiDathetic  ink  before  the 
fire,  the  inward,  invisible,  inimitable  handwriting  of 
the  soul,  the  true  authorship  and  ownership,  the  foi-g- 
ery  of  Avhich  by  selfishness,  stands  convicted  in  the 
presence  of  maternal  love.  Thus  the  weight  of  inter- 
nal evidence  may  be  sufficient  to  overbalance  that  of  a 
hundred  manuscripts,  confessedly  of  later  origin  than 
the  era  of  the  life  of  the  Autogi-aphists,  or  the  ex- 
istence of  any  known  original  copy  of  the  book. 
Produce  your  Autograi^hy.  Until  then  the  internal 
evidence  is  iii  a  measure  supreme.  Until  then,  the 
evidence  of  a  well  authenticated  vcr.-iion,  such  as  the 


Faith,  Djiibt,  and  Evidence.         lo^ 

Pc.iliito,  must  take  precedence  in  some  respects,  of 
the  manuscrij)ts  of  any  later  date. 

Of  the  determining  ancient  authorities  nearest  to 
the  apostles,  Irenoeus  and  the  Peshito  Syriac  Version 
stand  at  the  head.  These  two  ways  meet  in  the 
village  -where  the  colt  shall  be  found  for  the  Lord's 
triumphal  entrance  into  Jerusalem.  So  might  Light- 
foot  and  Fuller  jiut  the  case  of  our  textual  witnesses. 
In  all  things  in  which  these  two  agree  we  shall  find  a 
substantial  agreement  arrived  at  also  by  the  vast  ma- 
jority and  harmony  of  the  witnesses  through  eighteen 
centuries.  The  texts  or  verbal  expressions  in  which 
there  is  any  material  disagi-eement  will  be  found  so 
few  and  ununportant  that  the  unity  and  simplicity 
of  the  evidence  of  more  than  fifteen  hundred  manur 
scripts,  become,  when  put  beside  the  variations  in  all 
other  remains  of  ancient  literature,  wherein  accuracy 
of  the  text  is  sought  for,  a  marvel  of  certainty,  a  life- 
boat of  truth  above  a  thousand  storms  and  billows. 

The  Peshito  Version  is  supposed  to  have  been  made 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  century.  "  The  jjer- 
son  who  made  it,"  says  Prof.  Stuart,  "  must  have  been 
skilled  in  the  Greek  of  that  day,  and  therefore  in  the 
Greek  which  is  substantially  the  basis  of  the  New 
Testament  diction,  which  was  then  spoken  in  Pal- 
estine and  Western  Asia  in  general.  In  such  a  case 
we   have   in   the   Pesliito   a  witness   for   the   ancient 


io6         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

text,  and  a  help  to  tlie  sense,  in  one  and  the  same 
version. 

"  Of  all  the  monuments  of  antiquity  now  extant,  or 
at  least  of  all  yet  discovered,  I  regard  the  version 
of  the  Peshito  as  the  most  important  in  respect  to 
the  establishment  or  verification  of  the  true  Greek 
text.  It  precedes  in  age,  hy  several  centuries,  any 
Greek  MS.  that  we  now  have;  it  was  confessedly 
made  with  great  skill  and  ability.  ...  It  has 
been  exempt  from  all  the  criticisms  and  tamj^er- 
ings  of  the  Alexandrine  or  any  other  Western  school 
of  criticism.  .  .  It  has  come  down  to  us  from  the 
jDrimitive  ages  in  a  channel  entirely  different  from 
that  in  which  the  common  Greek  text  has  descended. 

.  .  It  appears  from  the  comj^arison  of  MSS.  so 
far  as  this  has  gone,  to  have  suffered  less  than  is 
common  from  the  variations  made  by  scribes;  and  it 
is  therefore  a  witness  above  all  exception;  as  to  its 
general  testimony  for  the  fidelity  and  accuracy  with 
which  the  Greek  text  has  in  the  main  been  preserved. 
No  monumeiit  of  antiquity  j)0ssesses  therefore  more 
to  excite  critical  interest,  or  even  exegetical,  than 
this.  The  student  who  is  familiar  with  it  can  not 
well  entertain  a  doubt  of  the  early  canonicity  of  the 
New  Testament  books  in  general,  and  of  the  imj)ort- 
ance  which  the  Christian  churches  in  the  primitive 
a<?es  attached  to  them." 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         loy 

"  The  Peshito,"  says  Scrivener  "  has  well  been 
called  the  Queen  of  Versions  of  Holy  Writ,  for  it  is 
at  once  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  most  excellent  of 
those  whereb}'  God's  Providence  has  blessed  and 
edified  the  Church."  "Michaelis  declared  that  he 
could  consult  no  translation  AAT.th  so  nmcli  confi- 
dence in  cases  of  difficulty  and  doubt." — Scrivener's 
Int.,  p.  280. 


XY. 

ANTECEDENT  PROBABILITIES— BENGEL  AND  GAUSSEN 
ON  THE  PLENARY  INFALLIBLE  INSPIRATION— VAST- 
NESS  OF  INVESTIGATIONS  AND  RESULTS. 

In  judging  what  ought  to  be  the  characteristics 
of  a  di^•ine  revelation,  we  find  ourselves  coinciding 
with  what  the  wi-iters  themselves  affirm.  They  ax5- 
peal  to  the  impossibility  of  God,  the  Father  of  our 
spirits,  and  the  giver  of  His  Son  to  die  for  us,  ever 
teaching  error,  when  the  welfare  of  the  soul  is  His 
object.  As  God  is  true,  and  hath  given  His  own 
Spu'it  to  make  known  the  truth  that  is  in  Him,  such 
is  our  witness;  if  not,  believe  us  not. 

"If  I  speak  not  the  worcU  of  my  Father,"  Christ 
says,  "believe  me  not.  If  I  do  not  tlie  worls  of  my 
Father,  beheve   me   not.     He   that  sent  me  is  true, 


io8         Faith,  Doubt,  a?id  Evidence. 


aud  I  speak  to  the  world  those  things  which  I  have 
heard  of  Him.  As  the  Father  hath  taught  me  I 
speak  these  things.  The  word  which  ye  hear  is 
not  mine,  but  the  Father's  which  sent  me.  And  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whom  the  Father  wiU  send  in  my  name, 
He  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to 
your  remembrance  whatsoever  I  have  said  unto  you. 
And  if  men  have  kej)t  my  saying  they  will  keep 
yours  also." 

"  I  have  given  unto  them  the  words  which  thou 
gavest  me.  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth:  thy 
Word  is  truth." 

It  is  under  such  divine  assurances  as  these,  that 
the  most  faithful  students  of  God's  Word  have  pui'- 
sued  their  investigations;  and  the  result  is  divinely 
satisfying.  The  seals  of  God's  truth  secure  both  a 
plenary  and  verb:il  inspiration,  in  all  things  neces- 
sary for  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 

Well  might  the  pious  and  conscientious  Bengel, 
whom  God  employed  a  hundred  and  sixty  yeai^s 
since,  under  the  pressure  of  deep  doubt  aud  anx- 
iety of  soul,  exclaim,  after  long  and  minute  research 
upon  this  vital  question  of  the  integrity  of  the  origi- 
nal text,  "Be  no  more  affrightefl.  God  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living,  and  by  every 
word  that  procosdcth  oat  of  the  mouth  of  God  shall 
man  live.     Eiit  simply  tho  broad  of  the   Scripture.?, 


Fa i til.  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  log 

such  as  you  find  it;  and  be  not  disturbed,  if  per- 
chance you  find  here  and  there  a  Httle  fragment  of 
the  niLllstonc  which  has  fallen  into  it." 

How  can  we  jn-esent  the  argument  in  a  manner 
strong  enough  for  its  reality  ?  Of  all  modern  wi-iters 
on  the  subject,  Dr.  Gaussen,  in  his  admu'able  and 
unanswerable  volume  on  the  divine  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures,  has  set  it  forth  with  most  satisfactory 
clearness,  though  since  he  wrote,  a  great  many  pro- 
foundly learned  scholars,  Tischendorf  with  his  newly 
discovered  Sinaitic  manuscript  among  them,  have 
added  strength  and  confidence  to  his  reasoning. 

Nature  is  a  divine  prophet,  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  fuU  corn  in  the  ear.  The  bud  pre- 
dicts and  promises  the  blossom;  the  blossom  promises 
the  fruit;  each  fulfilment  is  but  the  ground  of  faith 
for  the  next;  and  aU  are  demands  for  patient  trust 
that  God  will  fulfil  His  own  writings,  with  equal  ac- 
curacy in  nature  and  in  grace.  Inspiration  and 
connected  providence  are  one  and  the  same  divine 
kingdom;  creation,  with  natural  law  and  providence 
another;  both  by  the  same  omnipresent,  omnipotent, 
only-wise,  God.  The  infaUibihty  and  security  of  di- 
vine testimony  for  us  and  for  all  ages,  is  a  miracle 
of  divine  providence  and  grace. 

The  oracles  of  God  have  been  committed  for  i>res- 
ervation  first  to  tho  Jewish,  sDcond  to  the  Christian 


no         Faith,  Doubts  and  Evidence. 

Church;  dividing  the  whole  world  of  knowledge  and 
history  into  detachments  of  i')olice,  each  keeping 
watch  upon  the  other,  with  so  many  lynx-eyed  and 
jealous  inquisitors  and  hierarchs  of  sectarian  ani- 
mosities, undertaking  to  govern  the  world  by  in- 
terpretations resting  ultimately  upon  differences  in 
nianuscrij)ts,  that  nothing  can  possibly  be  conceiyed 
more  sure  than  the  result  arrived  at,  when  it  is  found 
on  the  one  hand  that  all  the  variations  of  so  '\nan\i 
manmcript.-^  as  have  been  searched  out  and  collated 
from  Sinai  to  Jerusalem,  and  from  Jerusalem  to 
Rome,  and  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  do  not  in- 
vade the  essential  integrity  of  am/  one;  that  none  of 
the  varialions  in  any  one  either  introduce  or  elimi- 
nate a  single  text  or  j)hrase  that  disfigures  or  casts 
doubt  upon  the  verities  established  bi/  consent  of  all; 
that  a  keen  and  conscientious  vigilance  quite  super- 
natural has  been  working  witli  transcribers  and  mar- 
ginal annotators ;  that  copies  have  been  securely 
traced  to  theu*  p^i'otolypcs,  and  families  of  copies  and 
translations  to  their  originals;  tiU  the  preservation  of 
human  language  itself  among  all  races  is  not  a  surer 
attribute  of  humanity,  than  the  unity  and  identity 
of  divine  truth,  together  with  its  capacity  of  being 
rendered  with  j)ractical  exactness  in  all  dialects,  is 
both  an  attribute  and  proof  of  a  divine  revelation 
for  the  immortal  soul. 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         iir 

Is  not  this  inexiiressibly  beautiful  and  precious? 
Does  it  not  meet  and  justify  the  thankful,  uudoubt- 
ing  confidence,  adoration,  and  love  of  every  believing 
heart,  and  every  lover  of  mankind,  for  such  unexam- 
pled and  inimitable  seals  of  all  divine  truth,  essential 
to  the  instruction  and  salvation  of  the  soul? 

This  is  what  the  most  perfect  a  priori  reasoning 
would  require  us  to  demand  and  expect  as  a  char- 
acteristic of  divine  revelation  for  all  ages  and  races 
of  mankind.  In  proportion  as  we  need,  in  conse- 
quence of  our  sinfulness,  infallible  dii-ections  from 
God  as  to  the  method  of  redemption,  recovery  from 
sin,  forgiveness  and  acceptance  with  God,  in  that 
proportion  we  are  entitled  to  an  unUmited  assurance 
that  all  the  words  of  Go'd  to  us  are  true,  and  j^er- 
mitted  forgeries  impossible.  The  oracles  of  God  shall 
certainly  be  with  such  faithfulness  transmitted  to  us 
who  need  thom,  that  the  promise  of  salvation  by  them 
shall  be  as  sure  for  us,  as  for  past  ages,  that  may  in- 
deed have  stood  nearer  to  God  in  time  than  we  do, 
but  could  never  have  had  firmer  ground  of  trust  in 
His  mercy  and  His  faithfulness  to  all  generations, 
than  ourselves  and  all  the  families  of  sinners  for 
whom  Christ  has  died.  Always,  unto  us  was  the 
gospel  preached,  as  well  as  unto  them,  and  if  the 
word  preached  did  not  profit  some,  it  was  not  for 
want  of  such  convincing  evidence  a3  every  rational 


112         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

soul  was  permitted  to  demanrl,   but  because  of  not 
being  mixed  with  faitli  in  them  that  heard  it. 

This  then  is  the  absolutely  safe  result  which  must 
have  been  expected  from  a  God  faithful  to  His  own 
covenant  of  redemption.  And  truly  does  Dr.  Gausseu 
affirm,  that  although  "  aU  the  hbraries  containing  an- 
cient copies  of  the  sacred  books  have  been  called  to 
testify;  although  the  elucidations  given  by  the  Fa- 
thers of  aU  ages  have  been  studied;  although  the 
Arabic,  Sp-iac,  Latin,  Armenian  and  Ethiopic  Ver- 
sions have  been  collated;  although  aU  the  manu- 
scripts of  all  countries  and  ages  fi'om  the  thu'd  to 
the  sixteenth  century  have  been  collected  and  exam- 
ined a  thousand  times  by  innumerable  critics,  who 
sought  as  the  recompense  and  glory  of  their  fa- 
tiguing vigils,  some  new  text;  although  the  learned 
men,  not  satisfied  with  the  libraries  of  the  West, 
have  visited  those  of  Russia,  and  carried  their  re- 
searches even  to  the  convents  of  Mount  Athos,  of 
Asiatic  Turkey  and  of  Egypt,  for  new  copies  of  the 
sacred  text,  they  have  discovered  not  even  a  solitary 
reading  which  could  cast  doubt  upon  any  j^assage 
before  considered  certain.  All  the  variations  leave 
untouched  the  essential  thoughts  of  cacli  phrase,  and 
affect  only  points  of  secondary  imjjortance." — See 
Dr.  Gauss3n's  Theopneustj,  page  90,  on  the  Objec- 
tions from  Variations. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         iij 

The  result  of  these  labors  upon  the  Word  of  God, 
uudertaken  iu  many  cases  by  enemies,  and  designed 
to  overtlu-ow  the  Christian  faith,  is  "immem^e  by  Uh 
nolhinfjne>>H  and  ahniglilij  in  Us  imjwtence."  The  varia- 
tions of  the  manuscri^jts  ai'e  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
be  perpetual  assui-ances  against  fraud  and  falsehood. 
Take  them  at  the  largest  computation  of  words,  syl- 
lables, jjoints,  commas,  120,000,  and  they  do  not  leave 
in  any  right  reason  the  slightest  shadow  of  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  truths  of  which  they  are  the  convey- 
ancers fi'om  God;  but  they  reveal  a  Giver  of  truth 
with  whom  is  no  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turn- 
ing. They  make  us  thinlc  of  the  divine  assurance  to 
Jeremiah,  "  If  ye  can  break  my  covenant  of  the  day 
and  of  the  night,  that  there  should  be  no  more  day 
and  night  iu  their  season,  then  may  the  covenant  of 
my  word  be  broken,  if  I  have  not  appointed  the  or- 
dinances of  heaven  and  earth." 

This  exactness  we  justly  affirm  to  be  of  the  nature 
of  a  mii-acle;  as  really  a  mii-acle  in  the  course  of  the 
moral  world  under  God's  providence,  as  the  exactness 
of  the  rising  and  setting  sun  without  variation  of  a 
second  of  time  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation. 

In  literal  truth  we  may  say,  "Forever,  O  Lord, 
thy  Word  is  settled  in  heaven.  Thou  hast  maguilied 
thy  Word,  djove  all  thy  name." 

Take  the  variations  in  the  gross  at  thirty  thousand, 


11^         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ascertained  by  the  prodigious  labors  of  learned  men 
for  three  hundred  years  upon  three  thousand  manu- 
scripts, demonstrating  the  astonishing  preservation 
of  the  text  in  its  purity,  though  copied  so  many 
thousand  times;  in  Hebrew  during  thirty-three  cen- 
turies, in  Greek  during  eighteen  centuries ; — could 
any  thing  be  more  satisfactory  ?  The  manuscripts  of 
six  comedies  of  Terence,  the  only  copies  of  his  woi'ks 
preserved  to  us,  but  copied  a  thousand  times  less 
frequently  than  those  of  the  New  Testament,  con- 
tain thirty  thousand  variations.  They  are  of  no  more 
weight  or  importance  as  diminishing  the  integrity 
of  the  text  in  either  case,  than  the  twelve  hundi-ed 
variations  disclosed  in  the  one  volume  of  Franklin's 
Memoirs,  which  really  are  of  no  importance  at  all, 
except  as  showing  the  presumption  and  intrusive- 
ness  of  the  editor.  It  is  therefore  refreshing,  after 
the  persistent  efforts  of  unbelieving  critics  to  weaken 
our  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  our  copies  of  the 
sacred  text,  to  return  and  listen  to  the  sound  of 
Beutley's  stupendous  sledge-hammer,  demolishing  at 
a  blow  the  best  constructed  of  their  arguments. 

For  this  great  critic  declaimed,  in  his  "  Remarks  on 
Free  Thinking,"  "that  the  real  text  of  the  sacred 
wi'iters  does  not  now,  since  the  originals  have  been 
so  long  lost,  lie  in  any  single  manuscript  or  edition, 
but  is  dispersed  in  thcni  all.     It  is  competently  exact 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ii^ 


indeed,  even  in.  the  worst  manuscript  now  extant; 
nor  is  one  article  of  faith  or  moral  precept  either 
perverted  or  lost  in  them." 


XVI. 


FRANKLIN'S    ILLUSTRATION    OF    THE    INFALLIBILITY 
OF    CRITICS  — LETTER    AND    SPIRIT    INSEPARABLE. 

The  professed  connoisseurs  whether  in  antiquities 
of  art  or  literature  are  liable  to  self-delusions  and 
impostures  by  their  own  manufactured  lenses  of  vi- 
sion and  opinion.  The  mistakes  they  sometimes  com- 
mit are  curiously  illustrated  ui  one  of  Franklin's  let- 
ters to  Baskerville,  the  celebrated  type-founder  and 
printer,  whose  printing-office  was  destroyed  by  the 
Bu-mingham  mob  in  1791.  Franklia  was  discours- 
ing concerning  the  artists  of  Bu-mingham,  with  a 
gentleman  who  said  that  Baskerville  would  be  a 
means  of  blinding  the  eyes  of  readers,  for  the 
strokes  of  his  letters  were  so  thin  and  narrow  as 
to  hurt  the  eyes,  so  that  he  could  never  read  a 
line  of  them  without  pain.  "I  thought,"  said  Frank- 
lin, "  you  were  going  to  complain  of  the  gloss  of  the 
paper,  which  some  object  to."  "No,  no,"  said  he, 
"I  have  heard  that  mentioned,  but  it  is  not  that;  it 
is   in   the   form   and   cut   of  the   letters  themselves; 


1 16         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

they  have  not  the  height  and  thickness  of  stroke, 
which  make  the  common  printing  so  much  more 
comfortable  to  the  eye." 

"You  see,"  says  Franklin,  recording  this  conver- 
sation to  his  friend  Baskerville,  "this  gentleman  was 
a  connoisseur.  In  vain  I  endeavored  to  support  your 
character  against  the  charge;  he  knew  what  he  felt, 
and  could  see  the  reason  of  it,  and  several  other 
gentlemen  among  his  friends  had  made  the  same 
observations,"  etc. 

Frankhn  being  mischievously  bent  to  try  the  judg- 
ment of  the  critic,  stepped  into  his  closet,  and  pro- 
duced to  him  a  specimen  of  the  printing  (as  Basker- 
ville's)  brought  from  Birmingham,  which  Franklin 
himself  had  been  examining,  and  could  not  for  the 
life  of  him  perceive  the  disproportion  of  which  he 
complained,  and  which  Franklin  begged  he  would 
point  out  to  him.  "He  readily  undertook  this," 
says  Franklin,  "and  Avent  over  the  several  founts, 
showing  me  ever^^where  wliat  he  thought  instances 
of  that  disproportion;  and  declared  that  he  coidd 
not  even  then  read  that  specimen,  without  feeling 
very  dronghj  the  pain  he  had  mentioned.  I  spared 
him'  the  coiifusion  of  being  told  that  these  xoere  the 
types  he  had  beCfi  reading  all  his  life  loith  so  much  ease 
to  his  eyes;  the  t^pes  his  adored  Newton  was  printed 
with,  on  which  he  lias  pored  not  a  little;  nay,  the 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         iij 

very  types  liis  own  book  is  printed  with,  for  he  is 
himself  an  author,  and  yet  never  discovered  this 
painful  disproportion  in  them,  till  he  thought  tJiey 
were  yours." 

This  anecdote  makes  one  of  the  most  refreshing 
and  instructive  and  we  may  add  comforting  pages 
in  the  annals  of  literatui*e.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  instances  ever  known  of  the  possibility 
of  entire  self-deception  and  mistake,  through  the 
color-bhndness  induced  by  previous  opinion,  in  a 
matter  capable  of  absolute  demonstration  to  the 
senses. 

There  is  the  same  room  for  prejudice  and  self-de- 
lusion in  the  examination  of  manuscripts,  language, 
and  style,  as  of  types,  spaces,  hah'-proportions ;  the 
same  possibility  of  color-blindness,  and  incapabil- 
ity of  a  just  comparison  and  weighing  of  evidence, 
especially  Avhere  moral  conclusions  and  preconceived 
opinions  are  at  stake.  Even  in  the  consideration  of 
the  clearest  and  most  irresistible  internal  evidence 
possible  to  be  imagined,  the  weight  of  it  may  be  set 
obstinately  aside,  and  the  conclusion  made  to  rest 
upon  a  mere  majority  of  manuscripts.  But  it  may 
be  said  with  truth  that  one  witness,  loith  the  moral  in 
ila favor,  outweighs  a  hundred  without  it.  One  moral 
Xjrohahilli.y  even,  may  be  of  greater  convincing  author- 
ity an:l   satisii'^tion   than  ten  oppositions  of   critical 


iiS         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Ei'idcnce. 

skill.  The  keenest  experts  are  sometimes  the  victims 
of  their  own  confidence.  One  log-and-line  record, 
under  the  compass,  is  worth  a  hundred  charts  filled 
out  with  supposed  naval  cruises,  and  the  outlines  of 
ships  and  reefs  and  harbors. 

Prof.  Stuart's  rule  to  his  students,  for  the  discovery 
and  fast  holding  of  truth,  was  just  this.  Throw  away 
the  doubtful  texts  as  useless,  but  hold  fast  the  sure 
ones,  as  entering  into  that  within  the  veil.  "Hold 
fast  the  form  of  aound  words,  which  thou  hast  heard 
of  me,  in  faith  and  love,  lohich  is  in  Christ  Jesus." 
That  was  a  sailor's  knot;  the  harder  pulled  uj^on, 
the  more  impossible  to  give  way.  One  unquestion- 
able j^roof  better  than  twenty  doubtful  or  suspicious. 
Having  found  the  one,  let  the  others  be  turned  out 
of  court,  or  take  their  turn  for  what  they  are  com- 
petent to  testify. 

This  canon  of  criticism  settled  satisfactorily  in  Prof. 
Stuart's  mind  the  question  as  to  Paul's  authorship  of 
the  Ei:)istle  to  the  Hebrews.  It  gave  a  positive  an- 
swer instead  of  a  negative.  The  disregard  of  this 
canon  has  filled  our  Ubraries  of  theological  and  bib- 
lical literature  with  volumes  of  vast  erudition,  the 
tendency  of  which  is  just  only  to  unsettle  the  mind 
of  the  learner,  diverting  it  from  cei'tainties  to  doubts. 

"One  of  the  greatest  of  modern  critics,  Schleier- 
macher,"  says  Dr.  Arnold  of  Rugbv,  himself  a  critic 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         iig 

more  profound,  "  doubted  the  genuineness  of  the 
Epistles  to  Timothy.  It  seems  to  me  that  they  are 
C.S  cerlainly  Paul's,  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  The 
doubt  arose  from  his  habit,  tchich  many  Germans  have, 
of  taking  a  one-sided  view  of  such  questions,  and 
suffering  small  objections  to  prevail,  over  greater  confirma- 
tions." Now  a  man  whose  mind  is  ruled  by  such  a 
habit  is  effectually  prevented  from  the  possibility  of 
ever  becoming  a  just  judge;  a  whole  nation  of  such 
scholars  could  never  produce  one  truly  great  ci'itic, 
by  whose  verdict  as  a  judge,  you  could  safely  hold 
fast. 

Such  treatment  of  the  Word  of  God  is  fatal  to  the 
supposition  of  its  divinely  inspked  unity  and  author- 
ity. There  can  be  no  authoritative  canon  of  belief, — 
not  even  God  Himself  could  estabhsh  it,  for  such 
minds;  because  the  anchor  of  faith  in  Christ,  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  Faith,  is  gone.  Or  rather, 
instead  of  bemg  cast  in  Christ,  within  the  veil,  it  is 
tlu'own  down  into  the  hold  of  the  ship,  to  entangle 
its  flukes  in  the  captain's  own  cargo  of  small  objec- 
tions. Thus,  some  men's  cardinal  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  amounts  to  just  this,  and  nothing 
more ;  self-salvation  by  then*  own  opinions  concerning 
Christ;  and  not  redemption  through  His  blood,  as 
the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life:  not  His  death,  ap- 
pointed and  voluntarily  borne  in  infinite  love,  as  the 


120         Faith,  Doubt,  aii.i  Evidence. 

proi^itiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  ours  only,  but  the 
sins  of  all  mankind,  believing  in  Him. 

The  letter  and  the  Sjiirit !  Both.  Not  the  letter 
or  the  Spirit,  Which?  If  either  be  fi'om  God,  both 
must  be  ;  and  when  it  is  known  how  inevitably  a 
right  discernment  of  the  thoughts  depends  on  the 
use  of  the  moods  and  tenses,  the  articles  and  adverbs, 
the  pronouns  and  interrogations,  of  the  language, 
in  the  words  of  which,  and  in  no  other  possible 
way  the  meaning  (God's  meaning),  can  be  conveyed 
and  made  known,  it  becomes  an  imj^ossibility  to  de- 
termine which  is  most  important,  the  Sjiirit  or  the 
Word,  and  it  is  presumi^tion  to  attempt  a  separation 
of  them,  or  the  disregard  of  either.  It  is  as  impos- 
sible as  it  would  be  to  undertake  a  descent  of  the 
rain  from  heaven  upon  earth  without  the  droj)s  of 
water,  the  making  small  of  which,  for  God's  pur- 
poses of  goodness,  is  adverted  to  as  one  of  the 
proofs  of  that  goodness. — Job  xxxvi.  27. 

A  verbal  inspiration,  nothing  less,  may  faii'ly  be 
argued  from  Isa.  Iv.  8-11,  and  the  reason  for  it. 
"  For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither 
are  your  ways  my  ways,  saitli  the  Lord.  For  as  the 
heavens  arc  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are  iny  wa3'a 
higher  than  your  ways,  and  m}'  thoughts  than  your 
thoughts.  For  as  the  rain  cometh  down,  and  tlie 
snow   from   heaven,   and  returneth   not   thither,  but 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         121 


watereth  the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and 
bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread 
to  the  eater:  so  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth 
out  of  my  mouth:  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void, 
but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  j)ros- 
per  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it." 

The  author  of  that  admirable  book,  "The  Wise 
Men  and  who  they  were,"  says  most  truly,  "  The  Ian- 
guage  of  Scriptxire  is  a  Fountain,  not  a  reservoir." 
The  words  have  a  meaning  of  life  impalpable  in  the 
lexicon,  which  is  the  mere  resers'oir,  built  by  human 
learning,  by  philology  of  dead  languages,  and  can 
guide  you  to  the  life  only  by  faithful  references  to 
the  Fountain,  but  never  by  mere  definitions  cut  off 
from  the  Infinite  Mind.  Therefore  this  writer  well 
says,  "In  all  Scripture  there  is  a  divine  element  of 
certainty;  and  for  the  full  understanding  of  Scripture 
it  is  necessary  to  compare  one  part  of  it  with  another, 
in  a  VMii  that  has  no  parallel  in  human  wrilinr/s."  He 
has  remarked  with  equal  truth  that  "the  historical 
element  being  the  chief  element,  so  far  as  form  goes, 
in  the  Scriptures,  there  should  be  the  same  faith  in 
the  precision  of  their  historical  teaching,  and  the  per- 
fection of  its  relations,  that  there  is  in  those  of  purely 
didactic  Scripture." — See  "Wise  Men,"  etc.,  by  F.  W. 
Upham,  LL.D. 


122        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XYII. 

THE  SOURCES  OF  TRUE  CRITICAL  DISCERNMENT  AND 
POWER— BENGEL  AND  HIS  GNOMON. 

Now  iiiquiiing-  what  were  the  soiu*c<?s  of  such  ex- 
traordinary discemment  of  the  thiuf^s  of  the  Sjphit  m 
men  lite  Biinyan,  Howe,  Luther,  Bengel,  Calvin,  we 
may  take  fii'st  of  all  their  discipliue  with  this  in- 
fallible Word  of  God  m  Cluist.  It  was  the  rever- 
ential, beheving  study  of  the  Iettei%  with  "praying 
in  the  Holy  Ghost"  for  the  teacliings  of  the  Spu-it. 

And  there  need  be  no  other  discovered  soiuce  of 
bhudness,  weakness,  and  cWkuess  over  a  whole  gen- 
eration, than  when  its  students  take  theu*  axioms  of 
interpretation  and  thch*  measui'es  of  e%idence  fi'oni 
men  Avho  absolutely  disl^eheve  and  deny  the  pres- 
ence and  power  of  the  Holy  Si>h*it,  the  divme  tiiith 
and  avxthoiity  of  tlie  Sci'iptures,  and  at  len-^.ih  the 
veiy  existence  of  CJhrist  the  Saviour,  as  revesded  in 
the  Word  of  God.  Rejecting  Hira,  all  ix)ssibihty  of 
divme  enliglitcmnent  in  God's  Word  for  oui-  good 
is  excluded. 

Chi-Lst  Himself  must  be  the  di\ine  Interpreter  of 
what  He  knew  and  decLu'ed  to  be  the  infjiUible  wTit- 
ten  Word  of  Ciu^L  Here  Ls  the  soiu-ee  of  all  our 
certainty  and  power,  over  souls  and  agtiinst  sc3pticsw 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         12 j 

"The  most  important  of  all  controversies,"  said 
Bengel,  speaking  of  the  mental  struggles  undergone 
by  him  when  studying  the  Bible  on  his  knees,  "are 
those  we  experience  ^-ithin  us,  of  which  there  is  no 
end  till  the  whole  mind  has  undergone  a  change,  and 
the  whole  man  has  struggled  into  renovation.  AVheu 
this  is  done,  a  host  of  casuistical  scruples  disappear 
at  once,  and  we  soon  get  rid  of  the  remainder." 

But  if  not,  what  then?  ShaU  they  shake  our 
confidence?  "The  deepest  difficulties,"  said  Ai-nold, 
"sitting  hard  by  the  most  blessed  truths,  stiU,  amidst 
all  the  doul)ts  and  perplexities  of  om-  own  hearts,  we 
must  seek  after  the  Lord,  Avith  unabated  faith,  if  so 
be  that  we  may  find  Him."  But  before  a  confessed 
and  unconquered  difficulty,  his  mmd  reposed  as 
quietly  as  in  possession  of  a  discovered  truth. 
"AMiat  is  that  to  thee?  Follow  thou  me.  And  I 
know  Christ  to  have  been  so  wise  and  loving  to 
men,  that  I  am  sure  I  may  trust  His  word,  and  that 
what  was  entirely  agreeable  to  His  sense  of  justice 
and  goodness  can  not,  unless  through  my  own  defect, 
be  otherwise  than  agi-eeable  to  mine." 

Bengel's  course  for  two  years  at  Tubingen  com- 
prised the  prescribed  studies  in  exegesis,  systematic 
divinity,  Church  history,  and  homiletics,  and  the  read- 
ing of  the  best  works  in  aU  those  branches.  He  reatl 
the  Hebrew  Bible  and  Greek  Testament  repeatecUy 


12^         Faith,  Doiibt,  and  Evidence. 

through,  and  along  Avith  them,  several  versions.  In 
his  tAventieth  year  he  was  ordained,  and  threw  him- 
self into  aU  the  details  of  jiractical  Avork  among  a 
common  people,  preaching,  catechising,  visiting,  and 
found  in  these  diities  "a  practical  filter  for  drawing 
off  the  mud  of  his  books  from  the  water  of  life."  In 
1742  the  Gnomon  appeared,  of  which  Michaelis  him- 
self said  that  it  "  exalted  the  author  above  all  his  pred- 
ecessors in  the  critical  knowledge  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament." "It  eA'inces,"  said  another  German  critic, 
"  the  deejDest  reverence  for  the  sacred  text,  and  a 
most  j^rofound  acquaintance  with  its  contents.  "With 
remarkable  simplicity  and  humility  it  follows  the  drift 
of  the  inspired  meaning,  and  induces  the  soul  to  open 
itself  even  to  the  softest  breathings  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
which  pervade  the  written  Avord.  Bengel  Aveighed 
every  clause,  phrase,  and  word,  to  the  minutest  jDar- 
ticle,  and  never  lost  a  shade  or  fibre  of  thought  AA'hich 
prayerful  and  painstaking  study  of  the  entire  sacred 
text  could  disclose  to  him." 

Passing  through  generation  after  generation  of 
svich  experiments  and  proofs,  the  charge  of  bibli- 
olatry  against  faith  in  Avliat  remains  undemolished, 
falls  to  the  ground.  There  is  a  Book  of  God,  and 
Ave  have  it,  as  it  came  from  Him,  for  our  guid- 
ance. Every  successive  translation  of  the  Scriptures, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  such  scholars  as  have 


Fa  all,  Doubt,  and  Evideiice.         12^ 

been  employed  upon  it,  oiiylit  to  have  less  and  less 
of  doubt.  More  of  divine  certainty  it  can  not  liave, 
than  that  which  God  gave  to  the  first  transcribers. 
Being  the  words  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  for  the 
life  of  the  world,  less  and  less  of  uncertainty  should 
be  the  characteristic  of  every  filtration  of  the  Water 
of  Life;  and  at  the  same  time,  depths  deeper  and 
deeper,  till  what  was  at  first  no  higher  than  the 
ankles  shall  bo  a  sea  to  swim  in,  that  none  can 
fathom.  "Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but 
my  words  shall  not  jiass  away." 

The  book  is  our  bridge  from  Time  to  Eternity. 
And  God  is  His  own  Interpreter,  as  of  His  own 
Providence,  and  He  will  make  it  j^lain.  Christ  in 
the  centre  of  it,  holds  all  its  fixtures,  its  certainties, 
in  His  own  person;  its  chains  pass  through  His  heart. 
He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  for  the  sins  of  all  mankind.  The  Book 
then  is  infallible  for  the  human  race,  and  in  all  lan- 
guages.    It  must  be  so,  or  it  is  insufficient  for  any. 

On  earth,  the  best  constructed  bridges  have  to  be 
tested,  and  it  never  can  be  told  to  a  certainty  that 
a  pound's  additional  weight  on  this  side  or  the 
other,  or  the  disturbance  of  the  balance  by  a  foot 
measure,  or  the  music  of  a  stray  fiddler,  may  not 
bring  down  the  whole  structure;  a  battixliou  of  men 
with  artillery,  keeping  step,  might   destroy  it,  after 


r26         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

millions  have  passed  over  it  safely  in  confasion. 
But  tliis  is  a  bridge  over  which  all  the  armies  anl 
artiUery  of  the  world  may  march  in  unison,  with 
measured  tramp.  Whirlwinds  can  not  move  it; 
earthquakes  will  not  shake  its  foundations.  And 
God  holds  us  to  the  belief  of  His  truth  bj^  ring- 
bolts of  spiritual  intuition  in  our  own  souls. 

But  wh}'?  Because  we  know  tliat  liistory  is  made 
uj)  of  opinion,  assertion,  supposition,  and  the'^\v,  by 
men  but  half  informed,  and  always  ?  'ore  or  les>  prej- 
udiced, but  never  mspired.  These  things  may  well 
make  us  suspicious  and  sceptical  iu  regard  to  human 
testimony;  but  they  only  prove  the  necessity  and  the 
worth  of  that  which  is  absolutely  trustworthy,  that 
which  is  divine.  "I  receive  not  testimony  from  man." 
Amazing  declaration !  All  that  philosophers  and  his- 
torians had  written  and  taught  Christ  knew;  and 
if  there  had  been  one  divine  voice  among  tliem  all, 
would  He  not  have  referred  to  it?  But  He  never 
sjioke  of  Socrates  or  Plato,  Zoroaster  or  Aristotle. 
Nor  did  He  refer  men  to  any  testimony  or  writings 
on  earth,  but  God's,  by  His  inspiring  Spirit.  He  that 
Jiath  an  car  lot  liim  hear  what  the  Spirit  saitii  unto 
the  Churches.  Having  commanded  us  to  hear,  as 
for  our  life,  what  the  Spirit  saith,  would  He  leave 
us  in  darkness,  ignorance,  uncertainty,  a^  to  such 
utterances  ? 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         12"/ 

How  can  we  sufficiently  thank  God  for  tlie  all- 
sufficiency  and  all-attainableness  and  commonness 
and  Ave  might  say,  cheapness  of^this  light;  for  it 
is  what  the  poor  need,  and  can  have  without  riches, 
and  what  the  rich  equally  need,  but  can  not  buy. 
It  is  only.  Come  unto  me.  Not  who  shall  ascend  into 
the  heavens,  or  descend  into  the  depths,  or  search  ba- 
yond  the  seas,  but  who  will  look  unto  me,  the  way, 
the  truth,  the  life. 

There  is  no  evidence  without  that  same  coming  to 
Christ,  and  beholding  and  knowing  Him.  All  evi- 
dence and  the  utmost  perfection  of  it,  without  this 
coming  and  beholding,  is  but  darkness  and  condem- 
nation. This  is  the  condemnation  of  men,  that  this 
light  of  Christ  is  come  into  the  world,  but  not  ad- 
mitted by  men,  because  they  loved  darkness  rather 
than  Hght,  because  their  deeds  were  evil.  The  dis- 
position that  rejects,  and  the  guilty  consciousness 
that  hides,  would  be  equally  sure  to  falsify.  Only 
a  sincere  and  humble  mind  can  receive  condemna- 
tory truth,  and  rejoice  in  it.  Only  such  a  mind  can 
reflect  it  truly,  can  reproduce  its  loveliness  and 
purity. 

The  reflection  of  the  sky,  the  banks,  the  trees,  the 
landscape,  in  a  quiet  transparent  lake,  how  beautiful ! 
But  wluMi  the  lake  is  agitated,  and  especially  if  it  be 
muddy,  there  is  cither  no  reflection  at  all,  or  it  is 


128         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

broken  into  a  chaos  of  images  giving  no  imjiression 
of  the  beauty.  What  the  mud  or  other  impurities 
of  the  w'atcr  are  to  its  transparency,  preventing  the 
possibility  of  a  just  reflection,  any  habit  of  sin,  any 
moral  impurity  in  the  soul  would  be  to  the  power  of 
reflection  in  that.  There  could  be  neither  reception 
of  the  attributes  of  God,  nor  reflection  of  the  divine 
image,  by  a  soul  torn  with  conflicting  sinful  passions. 
Does  this  truth  cast  us  into  despair?  Self-despair, 
yes,  but  only  that  it  may  throw  us  upon  Christ. 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  jou  rest.  Learn  of  me,  for  I 
am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest 
unto  your  souls." 


XYIII. 


HE  THAT  BELIEVETII  NEED  NOT  MAKE  HASTE  — A 
QUIET  UNCERTAINTY— INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  DECI- 
SIVE IN  CASES  OF  DOUBT. 

When  the  sea  is  out,  the  earth  is  fringed  with 
shallows  and  mud-basins;  ships  can  not  cross  the 
bars  of  the  harbors,  nor  enter  the  inlets.  But  when 
the  tide  is  full,  all  things  are  full  of  beauty  and  glory, 
and  the  design  of  all  thmgs  is  seen.  And  so  with 
the  Spii'it  in  the  heart,  taking  of  the  things  that  are 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         I2g 

Christ's  to  show  them  to  the  soul.  No  man  can  see 
them  without  this  flood  of  light,  this  tide  of  life,  im- 
bathing,  purifying,  clarifying  the  perceptive  and  rea- 
soning faculties,  for  the  inward  beholding  and  experi- 
ence of  divine  things,  and  of  the  new  bii-th,  by  which 
alone  the  kingdom  of  God  can  be  seen.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh.  But  the  Sj^ii'lt  searcheth 
all  things,  even  the  deep  things  of  God.  And  for  this 
very  intuition  there  is  promised  and  given  the  unction 
from  the  Holy  One,  by  which  we  know  all  things. 

Now  for  a  man  to  undertake  the  criticism  of 
divine  truths,  without  this  light,  this  inward  heav- 
enly experience,  is  as  if  a  man  blind  from  his  birth 
should  set  himself  up  to  be  a  professor  of  the  chem- 
istry of  the  sun's  rays,  a  practical  optician  for  eter- 
nity, and  a  scientific  commentator  on  Newton  and 
La  Place. 

Bishop  Ellicott  says,  "  The  critical  editor  often  fails 
to  give  a  true  statement  of  the  actual  case."  "An 
exaggerated  preference  for  a  single  manuscript  which 
Tischendorf  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  discover  has 
betrayed  him  into  an  ahnost  childlike  infirmity  of 
critical  judgment."'  In  three  difterent  editions  of  his 
Greek  Testament  there  are  pointed  out  twelve  hun- 
dred and  ninety-six  variations  fi'om  himself,  by  his 
own  successive  opinions. 

Granville  Penn  said  very  aptly,   in  the  case  of  a 


I  JO         Fait/i,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


proposed  revision,  "  Trading  convoys  always  regu- 
late the  progress  of  their  fleet  by  the  ability  of  the 
slowest  sailor,  however  irksome  the  delay  may  be 
to  the  imiDatience  of  the  swiftest  movers;  and  that 
practice  manifests  the  principle  that  ought  to  govern 
in  the  publication  of  a  Book  imparted  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  most  simple,  as  much  as  for  that  of  the 
most  enhghtened  and  sagacious." 

The  cautions  of  Bislioj)  Ellicott,  in  his  instructive 
and  interesting  "  Essay  on  Revision  of  the  English 
New  Testament"  are  to  be  regarded,  as  to  any  at- 
tempt to  construct,  as  yet,  a  new  Textus  Receptus. 
"  Though  we  have  much  critical  material,  and  a  fair 
amount  of  ci'itical  knowledge,  we  have  certainly  not 
yet  acquired  sufl&cient  critical  judgment  for  any  body 
of  revisers  hopefully  to  undertake  such  a  work  as  this. 
AU  such  attempts,  whether  on  the  part  of  individuals 
or  general  bodies,  are  indeed  at  present  much  to  be 
deprecated  as  certainly  premature,  and  as  naturally 
tending  to  delay  ultimate  progi'ess.  We  are  steadily 
gravitating  to  a  consent  as  regards  a  very  consider- 
able number  of  passages;  let  us  not  interfere  with 
that  natural  process  by  trying  to  anticii)ate  what  we 
shall  successfully  arrive  at,  if  we  have  but  patience 
and  industry." 

There  may  be  yet  many  more  manuscripts  discov- 
ered; it  would  be  strange  if  there  were  not.     "But 


FaiT'.  Doubt.,  and  Evidence.         ijr 

number  akne  can  not  be  admitted  foi*  evidence  in 
true  criti  ism.  If  a  thousand  manuscrij)ts  are  cop- 
ied, one  from  the  other,  they  do  not  increase  the  tes- 
timony of  the  first."  Moreover,  by  omissions  or  con- 
tradictions among  themselves,  they  do  not  diminish 
the  authority,  or  invalidate  the  evidence,  of  the  first. 

"Dr.  Johnson,"  says  Boswell,  "pointed  out  a  para- 
graph in  the  sixty-fifth  page  of  the  first  volume  of 
Sir  Greorge  Mackenzie,  and  told  me  there  was  an 
error  in  the  text,  which  he  bade  me  try  to  discover. 
I  was  luct)'  enough  to  hit  it  at  once.  As  the  passage 
is  printed  it  is  said,  'The  devil  answers  even  in  engines' 
I  corrected,  'ever  in  enir/nia^.'  'Sir,'  said  Dr.  Johnson, 
'you  are  a  good  critic;  this  would  have  been  a  great 
thing  in  the  text  of  an  ancient  author.'"  But  what 
an  error  to  occur  in  a  printed  book !  And  how  won- 
derful that  such  errors  are  so  infrequent  in  a  thou- 
sand manuacripU  of  the  Scriptures!  We  can  better 
afford  to  wait,  than  to  alter  the  text,  or  make  it 
doubtful,  even  by  the  most  ingenious  conjectures, 
such  as  this  of  Johnson's  biographer  certainly  was. 

INIeautime  it  is  comforting  to  the  unlearned  reader 
of  the  Bible  to  know  by  very  striking  examples  how 
often  the  most  febcitous  suppositions  leave  our  Eng- 
lish text  just  as  good  and  satisfactory,  with  just  as 
excellent  a  sense,  whether  we  take  one  side  or  the 
other  of  the  controversy. 


1^2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

No  better  example  of  tliis  quieting  uncertainty- 
can  be  given  than  that  which  occurs  in  Acts  xiii. 
18,  where  the  rendering  of  our  Eughsh  Version  is 
as  follows: 

"And  about  the  time  of  forty  years  suffered  he 
their  manners  in  the  wilderness."  As  it  stands,  it 
conveys  a  rei^roach  and  rebuke  against  the  generation 
of  their  fathers,  and  an  endurance  of  then-  obstinacy 
by  God's  long-suffering.  But  in  the  margin  the  trans- 
lators have  noted  the  Greek  word,  ttpoifocpuprjdev, 
perhaps  for  krftoq)oq)op)]6zv ,  bore  or  fed  them,  as  a 
nurse  beareth  or  feedeth  her  child;  and  the  refer- 
ence is  to  Deut.  i.  31,  "  in  the  wilderness,  where  thou 
hast  seen  how  that  the  Lord  thy  God  bare  thee,  as  a 
man  doth  bear  his  son,  in  all  the  way  that  ye  went." 

The  object  of  the  Apostle's  argument  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Antioch  is  to  persuade  the  Jews  of  the  ful- 
filment of  God's  ancient  compassion  and  mercy  to 
them  according  to  His  promise  in  raising  up  of  Da- 
vid's seed  unto  Israel,  a  Saviour,  Jesus,  even  Him 
whom  the  rulers  of  the  Jews  had  slain,  but  whom 
God  had  raised  from  the  dead,  and  through  whom 
"is  preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins."  The 
object  of  Moses  in  Deut.  i.  31,  is  likewise  the  encour- 
agement of  the  people  against  their  fears  of  the  Amo- 
rites  by  reminding  them  how  God  had  borne  them  and 
protected  them  all  the   way  from  Egypt,  and  tcouki 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ijj 

Htm  do  it,  if  the  J  would  trust  in  Him  and  obey 
Him. 

In  this  j^'T-ssage  "we  have,"  says  Scrivener,  "as 
nice  a  balance  between  conflicting  readings  (differing 
only  by  a  single  letter),  as  we  find  anywhere  in  the 
New  Testament." — Introduction  to  Criticism  of  New 
Testament,  page  537.  Bloomfield  in  his  notes  on  the 
passage,  compares  the  evidence,  so  nicely  balanced, 
between  rt  and  9,  and  decides  as  Scrivener  does,  for 
cp,  mainly  by  internal  testimony,  and  the  use  of  the 
word  in  Deut.  i.  31. 

The  internal  evidence  is  that  which  should  be  de- 
cisive in  every  case  of  doubt  as  to  the  external  or 
merely  textual. 

But  why?  Because  the  external  and  the  textual 
can  be  judged  by  scholarship  merely;  and  the  keen- 
ness of  such  judgment  may  be  a  quaUfication  acquii-ed 
by  rote,  and  by  familiarity  with  many  codices  of  all 
ages.  But  the  internal  can  be  judged  fully  only  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  given  in  answer  to  prayer,  and 
most  efiicacious  and  enhghtening,  just  in  proportion 
to  the  love  and  reverence  of  God's  Word,  habitual 
for  years,  and  the  earnestness  and  perseverance  with 
which  such  divine  aid  and  enlightenment  have  been 
sought  at  the  mercy-seat  in  the  name  of  Christ.  "  In 
thy  light  shall  we  see  light." 

The  appeal  therefore  ought  to  be  made  to  the  com- 


IJ4        FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

mon  conscience  of  Christendom ;  and  the  verdict 
ought  to  be  sought  in  the  answer  given  after  a  long 
periud  of  prayerful  consideration.  If  it  were  asked 
how  long  the  jury  shall  be  out,  it  were  not  too  much 
to  say,  Until  a  generation  of  scholars  trained  in  famil- 
iar knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages 
shall  have  been  placed  in  the  jury  box  and  consent-- 
ed,  at  least  eleven  out  of  twelve. 

Perhajis  it  may  be  said.  You  would  in  this  wa}' 
never  obtain  a  verdict.  But  you  would  at  least  gain 
such  an  accumulation  and  well  known  and  consid- 
ered weight  of  ojiinion,  that  at  length  the  degree  of 
contrariety  would  only  operate  as  a  confirmation  of 
the  truth.  And  forever  the  Word  of  the  Lord  might 
be  settled  on  earth  as  in  heaven. 

It  would,  at  any  rate,  be  better  to  wait  long,  even 
through  many  generations,  than  cast  out  from  the  ac- 
cejDted  text  of  God's  Word  any  passage  that  belongs 
there;  or  that  has  in  its  favor  the  consent  and  desire 
of  the  spiritual  behef  of  the  most  j^rayerful  Chris- 
tians in  all  ages,  as  being  most  fuUy  consonant  with 
the  analogy  of  faith,  and  the  practical  tendency  of 
God's  Word.  Such  a  witness  of  the  Spirit  is  not  to 
be  despaii'ed  of,  if  it  be  diligently  sought. 

So  it  is  the  internal  and  textual  combined,  that 
make  the  perfect  evidence.  But  the  textual  may  be 
studied  without  the  internal  or  spiritual,  and  there- 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ij^ 


fore  may  leave  the  student  in  ignorance  and  lieliiless- 
ness.  Milton's  daughters  could  read  to  him  Greek 
and  Hebrew  accurately,  without  one  scintillation  of 
the  meaning. 

The  internal,  the  spiritual,  may  be  perceived  with 
no  little  ignorance  of  the  textual;  and  where  there  is 
a  devout  sense  of  the  meaning  of  the  Spii'it,  even  a 
translation  may  be  wrought  out  with  very  little  text- 
ual erudition  or  study,  that  shall  be  nearer  to  the 
divine  original  by  far,  than  that  which  wdthout  such 
divine  intuition  proceeds  from  the  most  abundant 
supply  of  textual  resources  and  the  most  learned  use 
of  the  same.  Such  is  the  translation,  originally  the 
work  of  Tyndall;  such  ours  in  the  present  English 
Bible,  the  fi'uit  of  j)rofound  piety  and  sj)iritual  at- 
tainments and  sagacity,  with  sufficient  skill  and  learn- 
ing for  the  textual  materials  then  at  hand.  The  mind 
of  the  Spirit  may  be  communed  Avith,  and  the  glory 
beheld,  with  httle  or  no  knowledge  other  than  that 
of  the  plainest  version,  from  even  the  poorest  of  the 
extant  manuscripts.  Paul's  characteristic  humihty  of 
mind  and  many  prayers  and  tears  are  needed. 


136         Faii/i,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XIX. 

DEFENCE    OF    THE    ANGELIC    HV.MX    ON    THESE 
PRINCIPLES. 

"If  there  be  one  case,"  says  Scrivener  (Introduc- 
tion to  the  Criticism  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  513), 
"more  prominent  than  another  wherein  soHd  reason 
and  pure  taste  revolt  against  the  iron  yoke  of  an- 
cient authorities,  it  is  that  of  the  angehc  hj'mn  sung 
at  the  Nativity."  In  the  common  text  and  in  our 
EngHsh  Bible,  he  adds,  "all  is  transparently  clear," 
and  he  sets  the  beautiful  Hebrew  hymn  in  its  three 
lines,  metrically, 

"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
And  on  earth  peace: 
(lood  will  Tiuto  men." 

"  The  blessed  words  "  are  indeed  f uU  of  divine  proof 
that  as  they  stand,  so  were  they  sung  by  the  angels, 
so  reported  by  the  shepherds,  so  recorded  by  the 
inspiring  Spirit  of  the  record  in  Luke's  gospel. 

The  change  jDroposed  from  peace  on  eaiih,  which 
is  the  universal  reign  of  the  Prince  of  jDcace  over 
our  whole  lost  world,  to  that  of  peace  on  earth  /o 
men  of  good  unll,  men  of  piety,  by  reading  evSoHia'; 
for    eu<Soiaa,    is    a    limitation,    or    "yoke"    put    both 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ijy 

upon  words  and  meaning ;  changing  salvation  as 
the  gift  of  God  to  all  sinners,  into  a  proclamation 
of  God's  good  will  only  to  good  men.  Besides  this, 
"the  rhythmical  arrangement  is  utterly  marred,  and 
the  simple  shepherds  are  sent  away  with  a  message, 
the  diction  of  which  no  scholar  has  yet  construed 
to  his  own  mind." 

Alford  says  that  "peace  on  eaiih  for  those  that 
will  have  it,"  is  untenable  in  Greek  as  well  as  in 
theology;  and  peace  on  earth  "among  men  of  good 
pleasure "  is  unintelligible  to  most  minds.  And  the 
reading  "among  men  in  whom  He  is  weU  pleased" 
can  be  arrived  at  only  through  some  process,  wlii(;h 
would  make  any  phrase  bear  almost  any  meaning 
the  translator  might  like  to  put  upon  it."  Scrivener 
defends  the  hymn  in  the  common  text  and  our  trans- 
lation, by  many  uncial  manuscripts,  "  and  all  the  cur- 
sives; by  the  three  extant  Sp'iac  versions,  the  Peshito 
most  emphatically;  and  by  the  evidence  of  the  Greek 
Fathei's,  supported  by  all  the  later  manuscripts." 

Here,  the  internal  evidence  of  congruity  with  the 
truths  of  Gods  mercy  and  grace  to  the  chief  of  sin- 
ners on  earth,  through  the  incarnation  and  merits 
of  Christ  the  Redeemer,  and  not  thi-ough  men  of 
good  pleasure,  or  the  pleasure  of  good  men,  or  a 
good  disposition,  inviting  or  claiming  God's  mercy, 
seems  quite  enough  to  decide  the  interpretation.     It 


ij8        FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidejice. 

is  not  only  solid  reason  and  pure  taste  against  the 
yoke  of  ancient  authorities,  but  it  is  the  analogy  of 
faith,  supported,  on  the  whole,  by  the  most  ancient 
authority,  which  takes  the  soul  of  the  sinner  innne- 
diately  to  Christ.  Peace  to  men  of  good  iviJl  is  not 
accordant  with  the  presentation,  universal  elsewhere, 
of  peace  to  the  guUty,  the  rebellious,  the  lost  by  an 
evil  will,  the  children  of  wrath,  alienated  from  God 
and  at  enmity  against  Him.  These  are  not  men  of 
good  will,  but  all  mankind  by  nature;  and  if  the 
salutation  of  the  angels  was  so  restricted,  Paul  him- 
self, above  all  other  men,  could  have  no  j^art  in  it; 
the  blasjihemer  of  Christ,  the  murderer,  the  perse- 
cutor of  believing  souls  unto  death,  through  hatred 
of  Christ's  name. 


XX. 

DEFENCE    OF    THE    DOXOLOGY    IN    OUR    LORD'S 
PRAYER    BY    THE    SAME    EVIDENCE. 

A  similar  example  of  the  power  of  internal  evi- 
dence, by  comparison  of  the  whole  context  with  the 
veiy  earliest  authorities,  is  to  be  found  in  behalf  of 
the  doxology  to  our  Lord's  prayer,  as  it  stands  in 
the  received  text  of  the  Gosjiel  according  to  Matthew. 
The  place  of  the  j)rayer  in  Matthew  is  immediately 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ijg 

after  the  temjitation  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  re- 
sults of  that  temptation,  the  lessons  derived  fi'om  it 
are  embodied  in  our  Lord's  sermon  on  the  mount. 

The  experience  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  His  own  con- 
flict with  Satan,  is  there  in  that  discourse,  put  into 
warnings,  encouragements,  and  instructions,  for  the 
whole  tempted  world,  and  for  His  disciples  to  the 
end  of  Time;  for  prayer,  for  trust  in  God,  for  deliv- 
erance from  anxiety  and  hypocrisy,  for  singleness  and 
simplicity  of  service" towards  God,  for  protection  from 
temptation,  and  from  the  master  of  temptation,  the 
groat  adversary  of  souls.  Lead  us  not  info  tempta- 
tion, but  deliver  us  from  the  e\t:l  one. 

And  in  reference  to  the  incredible  daring  of  the 
tempter,  promising  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  icorJd  and 
the  glory  of  them,  to  such  as  would  serve  him,  the 
opening  of  the  Lord's  prayer.  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy 
wiij,  BE  DONE,  on  earth  as  in  heaven;  God  only  to  be 
worshipped,  loved,  and  served.  And  then  the  close, 
For  THINE  is  the  kingdom,  the  power,  .\nd  the  glory, 
forever.  If  you  ever  need  any  proof  that  this  dox- 
ology,  which  some  have  attempted  to  sever  from  this 
prayer,  was  our  Lord's  own  portion  of  it,  look  back 
to  His  conflict  with  Hatan,  and  you  will  know  that  this 
also  grew  out  of  the  devil's  own  assault  and  claim; 
and  was  sot  by  divine  inspiration  as  part  of  the  divine 
prayer  for  the  piety  of  all  behevera. 


1^0         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Angels  came  and  ministered  unto  Him.  They  were 
again  ministering  in  the  Garden  of  (Tethsemane.  The 
Son  of  God  was  seen  of  angels  in  the  extremities  of 
the  sufferings  endured  for  lis,  that  He  might,  through 
death,  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  even 
the  devil. 

It  is  the  AulJior  and  Finisher  of  faith  face  to  face 
•with  the  murderer  of  souls;  sinking  the  2:»ilh^rs  of  the 
spiritual  universe  deep  in  His  own  sufferings.  In  the 
very  outset  bringing  out  the  awful  and  eternal  reahty 
of  truths  which  wiU  always  be  denied  by  com2)ounds 
of  science  and  sense  and  sin  in  this  world;  even  the 
very  existence  of  a  devil,  dehghting  forever  in  evil,  and 
the  character  of  sinful  men  as  the  children  of  Satan, 
and  the  everlastingness  of  death  and  hfe  as  the  issues 
of  obedience  or  disobedience  to  God's  commands. 

If  example  or  origin  of  this  doxology  were  needed 
in  the  Old  Testament,  it  is  found  in  the  glorious  con- 
secrating prayer  and  blessing  pronounced  by  David 
before  all  the  congregation,  when  his  gifts  were 
i:)ublicly  consecrated  to  God  for  the  building  of  the 
Temple.  "Blessed  be  thou.  Lord  God  of  Israel  our 
Father,  for  ever  and  ever.  Thine,  O  Lord,  is  the 
greatness,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  and  the 
victory,  and  the  majest}^:  for  all  that  is  in  the  lieaven 
and  the  earth  is  thine;  thine  is  the  kingdom,  O  Lord, 
and  thou  art  exalted  as  head  above  aU." 


Faith,  Doubt,  a] id  Evidence.         i^i 

Olsliausen  says,  "  The  doxology  is  wanting  in  many 
manuscripts,  as  shown  by  Griesbach.  But  it  occurs 
akeady  in  the  Peshito,  where,  however,  it  may  he  an 
interpolation." 

It  may  be;  but  what  shadow  of  authority  is  there 
for  such  a  conjecture?  Alford  adds  the  aflfirmation, 
"that  we  find  absolutely  no  trace  of  the  doxology  in 
early  times,  in  any  family  of  MSS.,  or  in  exjjosition." 
Yet,  in  the  very  next  sentence  he  adds,  "llie  Peshito 
has  it,  but  whether  it  always  had,  is  another  question." 
But  ichose  is  the  question,  and  by  what  authority? 
The  Peshito  Version  is  a  very  satisfactory  trace,  a/> 
solulely  more  than  a  trace  of  the  existence  of  these 
Avords,  in  the  very  earliest  known  version  of  the 
earliest  manuscript  ever  referred  to. 

In  the  earliest  century  in  which  we  have  any  traces 
of  the  gospels  at  all  this  doxology  is  known.  Bloom- 
field  says  "it  is  supported  by  the  Syriac  and  some 
other  Oriental  versions  and  by  some  of  the  Greek 
Fathers."  "The  Sahidic,  Ethiopic,  Annenian,  Gothic, 
and  Gregorian  Versions  contain  it,  and  nearly  all  the 
five  hundred  cursive  manuscripts  containing  Mat- 
thew's sixth  chapter."  Chrysostom  comments  upon 
it  without  the  least  consciousness  that  its  authen- 
ticity is  doubtful. 

Scrivener  remarks  that  "if  it  is  probable  that  the 
doxology  was   interpolated   from   the   liturgies,   it   is 


1-^2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


just  as  i^robable  that  it  was  cast  out  of  Matthew's 
gosjiel  to  bring  it  into  harmony  with  Luke's."  "The 
Sjriac  and  Thebaic  Versions  bring  uj)  the  existence 
of  the  doxology  to  the  second  century.  Isidore, 
Chrysostom,  and  j^erhaps  others,  attest  it  for  the 
fourth;  and  so  do  nearly  all  the  later  documents; 
so  that  we  may  be  excused  for  regarding  the  in- 
dictment against  the  last  clause  of  the  Lord's  prayer 
as  hitherto  inrproven." 

This  is  a  valualile  testimony  from  one  of  the  jn-o- 
foundest  and  most  accurate  of  the  critics  thus  far 
known,  F.  H.  Scrivener,  in  his  Introduction  to  the 
Criticism  of  the  New  Testament,  pp.  496,  497,  2d 
Edition. 


XXI. 


SCEPTICISM  THE  WORK  OF  MISINTERPRETATION  AND 
MISTAKE;  INSTANCED  IN  THE  CASE  OF  COLENSO— 
NO  WORD  FOR  SLAVE  IN  THE  HEBREW  LANGUAGE. 

Dr.  S.  P.  Tregelles,  in  the  i:)reface  to  his  work 
on  the  printed  text  of  the  New  Testament,  enumer- 
ates the  classes  of  scejitics, — accusing,  distorting,  ar- 
gumentative, rationalistic,  mythic,  liberal,  Chi-istiau- 
izing  without  Christ,  and  pretenders  to  a  divine 
teaching  without  acknowledging  an  inspiring  Holy 
Sim'it;  —  "successive,  rival,   and  mutually  autagouis- 


Faith,  Dj!c[)l,  and  Evidence.         i^j 

tic  rulers  of  tlie  Olympns  of  scepticism  and  infidel- 
ity;"— in  one  thing  and  only  one  agreeing,  tlu'ough 
all  forms  of  opposition,  namely,  all  of  them  re-echoing 
the  serpent's  first  whisper  of  doubt  and  Ij^ng,  "Yea, 
HATH  God  said  ?  " 

He  adds  that  "Holy  Scripture,  being  our  Chart  of 
Redemption  through  the  Saviour's  blood,  we  there- 
fore are  able  to  estimate  the  importance  of  Textual 
Criticism,  by  which  we  know  on  grounds  of  ascer- 
tained certainty,  the  actual  ivords  and  sentences  of  that 
charier,  in  the  terms  in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  gave  it.'' 

A  verbal  inspiration  is  here  rightfvdly  presupposed 
in  the  terms  of  a  charter  of  human  salvation.  This 
presupposition  includes  that  of  an  equally  sure,  ple- 
nary, and  certain  inspiration  in  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  prophetic,  historical,  doctrinal. 

Dean  Alford  affinns,  in  a  note  on  John  xii.  32, 
"And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  me,"  that  there  is  a  fine  touch  of  i)alhos, 
corresponding  with  the  feeling  of  verse  27,  now  is 
my  soul  troubled,  in  idv  vipooOc^.  The  Lord  Jesus, 
though  knowing  all  this,  yet  in  the  weakness  of  His 
humanity  p»/.s  Himself  into  tJiis  seeming  doubt,  if  it  is 
so  to  be,  as  in  Matt.  xxvi.  42.  "All  this  is  missed," 
continues  Alford,  "by  the  shallow  and  unscholarlike 
rendering,  when;  which,  I  need  hardly  remind  my 
readoi's,  idr  can  never  bear."     That  is,  all  this  paihos 


1^4         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

of  uncertainty  in  regard  to  tlie  verv'  manner  of  our 
Lord's  death,  as  foreseen  by  Him,  and  immediately 
renaarked  uj^on,  in  Averse  33,  "This  He  said,  signify- 
ing ichat  death  He  should  die:"  not  what  death  He 
wigJU  die,  but,  T/jieXXey  a7CoOv?}<5H£iy,  must  die,  ought, 
should,  must,  therefore  certain. 

Now  the  student  of  New  Testament  Greek,  turn- 
ing to  Dr.  Robinson's  Lexicon,  for  the  whole  force 
of  this  i^article  Idr,  finds  it  exhibited  thus,  besides 
the  classical  usage,  so  well  known;  namely,  as  a 
Hebraism,  DX,  passing  over  into  a  particle  of  time, 
referring  to  an  event,  certain  in  itself,  but  uncer- 
tain in  time,  ivhen,  whenever;  put  with  the  subjunc- 
tive aorist,  and  followed  by  an  indicative  future. 
John  xii.  32,  instanced  also  in  I  John  iii.  2,  "We 
know  that  lohen,  lay,  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be 
like  Him."  Similarly,  III  John  10,  hxv  eX^go,  "when 
I  come."  Also  John  xiv.  3,  "If  I  go,  and  j^repare 
a  place  for  you;"  Idy,  "when  I  go,"  the  present  in 
a  future  certainty.  So,  the  Sept.  Prov.  iii.  24,  and 
Isa.  xxiv.  13,  "Then  shalt  thou  walk  in  thy  Avay 
safely,  and  thy  foot  shall  not  stumble;  rt7it'?i  thou 
liest  down,  thou  shalt  not  be  afi*aid.  Be  not  afraid  of 
sudden  fear,  when  it  cometh." — Prov.  iii.  24.  "When 
the  vintage  is  done." — Isa.  xxiv.  13. 

"And  it  came  to  pass,  when  they  had  made  an 
end  of  eating,"  etc. — Amos  vii.  2. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         /^j 

So  impossible  is  it  always  to  determine  the  thought, 
or  to  prevent  "mUsing  the  whole  meaning"  in  the  New 
Testament  Greek,  excej)t  by  accurate  study  of  the 
words,  both  in  Hebrew  and  Greek.  These  instances 
are  undeniable;  and  they  show  how  the  genius  of  the 
two  languages  has  to  be  consulted,  in  order  fully  to 
understand  even  the  particles  of  either;  and  how  even 
a  profound  scholar  may  be  betrayed  into  inaccura- 
cies, by  mere  classical  deductions,  as  if  they  cov- 
ered the  whole  ground. 

Perhaps  no  commentator  on  the  Scrij^tures  has 
more  faithfully,  or  with  more  accurate  industry  rep- 
resented the  capacities  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
particles  than  Prof.  Stuart  in  his  Commentary  on 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

Commenting  on  Hebrews  iii.  7,  he  adds  to  the 
instances  given  above,  of  the  use  of  idv,  when,  like 
the  Hebrew  qX)  ^o  which  it  corresponds,  the  cases  of 
John  vi.  62,  and  xiii.  20. — See  also  Bloomfield  on  the 
same,  iaV  for  urav. 

And  Prof.  Stuart  has  constructed  an  argument  for 
Paid's  authorship  of  this  Epistle,  "with  a  result  so 
plain  that  it  can  not  be  mistaken,"  by  comjiarison 
of  the  usage  of  words  in  this  Epistle  wuth  that  in 
the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  has  never 
been  doubted  as  the  writing  of  the  same  Apostle. 

These  things  do  certainly  go  far  to  prove  the  no- 


1^6        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

cessity  and  reality  of  a  verbal  inspiiution,  if  any 
at  all  be  admitted.  Language  mvist  be  used  and 
interpreted  according  to  its  national  and  local  hab- 
its and  laws. 

Plainly,  all  evidence  of  importance  may  be  so  en- 
tirely dependent  on  the  usage,  repetition,  or  absence, 
of  a  particiilai'  verbal  phraseologj',  as  to  compel  the 
admission  of  a  vei'bal  inspu'ation,  if  infallible  resoilts 
are  to  be  secured. 

Consulting  the  Sej^tuagint  of  the  Old  Testament, 
we  have  to  go  by  lead  and  line  in  Hebrew  and  Greek 
for  the  meaning  of  the  New. 

It  is  by  neglecting  this  canon  that  so  many  inter- 
preters have  erred  in  not  giving  the  word  5orAos  in 
the  New  Testament  the  benefit  of  the  celestial  bap- 
tism derived  from  the  spirit  of  freedom  in  the  Old. 
Hence  we  have  the  prodigious  anomaly  of  such  ex- 
pressioiis  as  the  slaves  of  Christ,  apphed  to  His  min- 
isters of  truth,  whom  He  would  never  permit  to 
be  called  slaves,  but  friends;  even  as  the  return  of 
the  Prodigal  Son  was  not  permitted  to  be  announced 
as  the  subjection  of  a  chattel  or  bondsman,  but  in 
the  penitential  prayer,  "Make  me  as  one  of  tliiue 
hired  servants." 

Certauily,  if  upon  the  aiiicles  and  prepositions, 
moods  and  tenses  of  the  gTiimmar  of  a  language 
conclusions  have  to  be  built  so  vitallv  aiiec.tui<Tf  oui" 


Failh,  Doubly  and  Evidence.         i^j 

views  of  the  niuuiiers  and  morals  of  a  people,  and 
the  nature  of  their  appointed  discipline  of  character 
and  retribution,  a  verbal  insj)iration  Avould  seem  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  understanding  both  of  God's 
righteousness  and  man's  responsibility. 

Conybeare  and  Howson  go  so  far  as  to  say,  in  Gal. 
V.  13,  "  Fe /iflfc  been  called  unlo  freedom;  ensl.we  your- 
selves one  to  another."  Such  a  translation  of  dovXsvEte 
cotild  never  have  been  considered  admissible,  if  the 
genius  of  the  Hebrew  had  been  consulted  and  fol- 
lowed. 

There  is  no  word  in  the  Hebrew  language  for  ><Jave, 
and  this  grand  fact  speaks  volumes.  It  goes  far  to 
prove  that  the  Hebrew  must  have  begun  with  Eden, 
as  the  dialect  of  freedom  and  of  Paradise.  The  glo- 
rious necessity  and  penury  of  that  divine  language  in 
this  resj)cct  (a  penury  the  consequence  of  wealth) 
dragged  in  triumph  the  Greek  words,  which  human 
depravity  had  applied  for  slavery,  and  made  a  show 
of  them  openly,  having  bound  them  to  the  service  of 
a  universal  and  Christian  freedom.  In  the  work  of 
translation,  for  want  of  another  pure  language  that 
had  not  been  created  out  of  despotism  and  servility, 
the  Greek  words  for  sercice,  though  stamped  with  the 
superscription  of  slaver i/,  had  to  be  taken  as  the  expo- 
nents of  the  noble  Hebrew.  But  the  grand  old  He- 
brew significance   held  on  and  triumphed,  being  at 


148        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

length  aclditionally  elevated  and  transfigured  by  the 
gospel. 

The  Greek  was  not  laid  aside,  nor  unclothed,  but 
clothed  uj)on,  with  the  divineness  of  the  HebrcAv;  and 
the  words  that  are  thus  transfigured  must  be  viewed 
as  reflecting  the  glory  of  that  Redeemer,  whose  incar- 
nation, death,  and  work  of  redemj)tion  gathered  all 
mankind  into  one  free  family.  To  look  at  them  other- 
wise, in  their  iisage  in  the  New  Testament,  would  be 
as  if  one  of  the  disciples  could  have  strii:)iied  Moses 
and  Elias  of  their  glory,  and  compelled  them  to  ap- 
pear in  their  eartlily  and  mortal  habihments.  There 
is  no  exaggeration  in  this.  If  any  man  will  examine 
carefully  the  works  of  those  scholars  who  have  written 
on  the  j)rinciples  of  interpretation  as  applied  to  the 
Greek  of  the  New  Testament,  he  wiU  find  that  though 
this  particular  view  might  not  have  been  in  the  mind 
of  those  writers,  yet  the  demonstration  is  inevitable 
from  their  jorinciples.* 

We    have   quoted    the   two   preceding    paragrajihs 

*  See  Saalscliutz,  "Mosaic  System  of  Laws,"  Vol.  2,  ch.  101, 
pp.  697-714,  Berlin,  1816;  Seller,  "Biblical  Hermeneutics,"  Part 
2,  Sec.  242;  Winer,  "  Grammar  of  Idioms  of  the  Greek  Language 
of  the  N.  T.,"  pp.  34,  31;  Planck,  "Greek  Diction  of  N.  T.;" 
EoLinson,  "  Philology  of  N.  T. ;"  Tholnck.  "  Lexicography,  N. 
T.;"  "Tittmann  on  Forced  Interpretations;"  "Marsh's  Lec- 
tures," p.  3,  Loc.  14;  Lightfoot,   "Works,"  Vol.  4.  p.  31. 


Faiih,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  j^g 

from  a  volume  of  our  OAvn,  on  "  The  Guilt  of  Slaver^', 
aud  the  Crime  of  Slaveholding  as  Demonstrated  from 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scrij^tures  " ;  published  in  New 
Yoi-k  in  18G0.  But  it  then  had  to  be  published  with- 
out a  publisher;  for  so  great  was  the  heat  of  the  con- 
flict, that  no  jjublisher  could  be  found  willing  to  un- 
dertake it.  Now  that  the  whirlwind  and  the  storm 
have  passed,  the  truth  against  slavery  is  as  clear  as 
the  sun  at  noonday,  both  in  the  Bible  and  in  our 
O'SNTi  iioHtical  constitution. 

It  was  a  radical  misinterpretation  and  mistake  of 
the  Hebrew  and  its  context  (preassuming  falsely  the 
existence  and  sanction  of  chattel  slavery),  in  Ex.  xxi. 
20,  21,  that  plunged  Bishop  Colenso  and  his  Zulu 
hearers  into  such  a  sea  of  doubt,  from  which  he 
emerged  only  by  denying  the  historical  veracity  of 
the  Pentateuch,  and  proclaiming  Exodus  an  impos- 
ture, and  Moses  a  forger  of  God's  "Word,  who  dared 
affix  to  the  imaginations  of  his  own  brain,  the  asser- 
tion, r/a/s  »a'dh  the  Lord.  So  remarkable  an  instance 
of  this  kind  of  teaching  among  savages  by  a  mis- 
sionary, is  sadly  instructive  as  to  the  necessity  of 
being  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  knowledge  of  lan- 
guages and  history,  as  well  as  in  the  love  of  Christ 
that  passeth  knowledge. 

This  treatment  of  Moses  by  Colenso  followed  hard 
upon  that  of  the  whole  Pentateuch  by  Ewald  in  Ger- 


/JO         FailJi,  Doubl,  and  Evidence. 

many,  and  Kuenen  in  Holland;  and  their  destructive 
criticism,  with  that  of  Renan  and  Strauss,  is  now  im- 
itated and  repeated,  borrowed,  and  appHed  Avith  en- 
dorsements of  successive  professed  exi^erts,  not  in 
transitory  volumes  merely,  but  in  weighty  encyclo- 
j^edias,  under  the  assumption  of  established  science. 
It  is  none  the  less  a  continued  reverberation  of 
theories,  conjectures  and  accusations,  without  valid 
reason,  and  unsupported  by  facts. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  hindlng  a  stone  in  a 
sling  (Prov.  xxvi.  8),  fastening,  chaining  it,  as  mas- 
ter of  the  sling  instead  of  its  winged  minister,  so 
that  it  can  not  shoot,  in  free  and  airy  flight,  as  the 
will  and  faith  of  a  David  against  Goliath,  for  God's 
cause,  but  is  used  as  a  slung-shot  for  private  assas- 
sination. So  do  men  imprison  the  truth  in  unright- 
eousness (Rom.  i.  18),  and  professing  themselves  to 
be  wise  become  fools.  Denying  God's  inspiration, 
they  say  of  the  divine  "Word,  "  He  hath  a  devil,  and  is 
mad;  why  hear  ye  Him?"  Instead  of  jDlanting  ari'ows 
in  the  heart  of  the  King's  enemies,  to  subdue  the  ])eo- 
ple  under  Hiui,  they  strike  at  the  King  Himself  and 
His  disciples.  Their  words  are  shot  as  the  darts  of 
the  Wicked  One,  ti2)ped  with  fire,  and  barbed  to  work 
the  gangrene  of  doubt  and  anguish  in  tempted  souls; 
— words  that  cat  as  doth  a  canker  (II  Tim.  ii.  17), 
scorners'    words,    of   fire-brands,   arrow.i,    and   death. 


FixitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  i^i 


But  men  of  all  parties  too  often  employ  the  screw, 
tlie  vice,  the  Procrustes'  bed,  upon  the  Scriptures, 
instead  of  sincere,  fi'ee  inquiry,  and  "the  gentleness 
of  Christ."  The  use  of  the  question  became  by  papal 
despotism  a  synonym  for  the  torture  of  the  Inqui- 
sition. That  was  diaboHcal.  Rationalism  takes  the 
veil.  A  meaning  is  first  imposed  iijion  the  text,  and 
that  preassumed  meaning  is  then  reasoned  from  as 
a  postulate.  The  examples  are  numerous  and  start- 
ling of  such  a  perversion,  fossilization,  and  despot- 
ism of  thought  and  opinion  through  the  forcing  and 
chain-ganging  of  words.  The  marine  impressment  of 
landsmen  for  sailors  is  a  light  iniquity  compared  with 
this.  Alas,  men  often  employ  language  for  knocking 
down,  instead  of  persuading;  and  they  who  split  hairs 
in  controversy  end  with  splitting  heads. 

But  human  language,  inbreathed  and  adopted  by 
the  Holy  Spirit,  becomes  everywhere  an  infallible, 
loving,  divine  inspiration,  human  and  divine,  conse- 
crated and  kept  by  the  same  affectionate  baptism 
that  is  described  b}'  Paul  as  "  the  law  of  the 
spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  setting  us  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death,"  the  ver}-  spirit  of  adop- 
tion, vloOeoux?,  sonship,  whereby  we  cry,  Abba,  Fa- 
ther. The  words  and  thoughts  of  our "  Heavenly 
Father  are  themselves  children  of  light,  full,  every- 
where,   of   merciful    convictions   for   the    conscience. 


1^2         Faith,  Doubt.,  and  Evidence. 

and  heavenly  invitations  and  promises,  and  win- 
dows of  God's  light  and  love.  For  all  the  ivarnings 
in  regard  to  the  reality  of  an  eternal  death  are*  no 
less  the  work  and  certainty  of  love,  than  are  the 
assurances  of  eternal  life.  And  it  is  this  quality  of 
ETERNITY  that  gives  at  once  its  infinite  value  to  the 
revelation,  and  the  rvde  of  its  just  interpretation,  and 
the  demonstration  of  its  infaUibihty.  All  these  things 
meet  in  the  divine  personality  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  Faith,  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
the  Life,  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,  Yesterday, 
To-day,  and  Forever 

The  personal  eternity  of  God,  belonging  to  all 
His  attributes,  is  to  us  the  Reason  of  His  Revela- 
tion to  mankind  by  insphation;  and  the  same  per- 
sonality determines  our  rule  for  the  interpretation  of 
that  whole  revelation.  Divine  love,  in  and  for  the 
redemption  of  sinful  men  (to  seek  and  save  the  lost) 
is  God's  revealed  i-eason;  the  disclosed  fact,  method 
and  necessity  of  that  redemption  are  our  rule,  com- 
paring spu-itual  tilings  with  si)ii-itual.  The  rule  is 
to  be  determined  and  applied,  in  and  for  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  words,  not  as  an  expedient  for  a 
present  emergency,  but  according  to  the  reason  and 
in  obedience  to  that,  as  covering  the  whole  ground 
of  divine  revelation.  As  an  example  from  human 
jurisprudence,  interpreting  laws  and  applying  them, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidoicc.         i^j 

we  take  our  own  Constitution,  a  document  of  equity 
and  freedom.  Every  rule  in  it  is  to  be  determined 
in  its  application  by  the  reason  of  life,  liberty,  and 
the  i:)ur.suit  of  happiness. 

Most  men  go  by  rule  of  habit,  emergency,  and  ul- 
timate neeessit}';  feAV  by  reason.  This  is  the  cause 
for  imi)rovements  being  so  few  and  so  gi'adual.  With 
most  men  the  rule  is  a  rut  worn  so  deep  that  the 
wheels  of  life  are  in  it,  almost  to  the  hub. 

"When  the  reason  is  the  RULE,  it  is  the  cheapest, 
simplest,  and  harmonizes  all  things.  "When  the  rule 
is  the  reason,  there  can  be  nothing  but  conflict  and 
confusion,  till  the  reason  becomes  suj^reme. 

When  all  the  lines  from  the  circumference  of  a 
circle  run  to  the  centre,  they  all  run  sti'aight,  and 
without  crossing.  In  order  that  they  may  run  with- 
out crossing,  they  must  all  run  to  that  one  jDoint. 
God  in  Christ  is  our  Centre;  and  -sN-ithout  Him,  and 
a  sulnuissive  reference  of  all  things,  purposes,  and 
meanings  to  His  known  will,  we  are  the  offspring 
of  darkness  and  desj)air. 


i^^         Faitli,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 
XXII. 

GOD'S  RIGHT  OF  PRErOSSESSION  IN  THE  HUMAN  MIND. 

If  God  is  tlie  God  and  Father  of  the  sjiii-its  of  all 
flesh,  and  aU  souls  are  His,  it  is  absolutely  certain 
that  He  will  teach  them  what  is  for  their  good,  and 
nothing  that  is  false  or  injurious.  Plato's  natural 
theology  taught  as  much  as  that. 

Again,  if  God  is  a  Father,  He  will  teach  His  chil- 
dren nothing  in  His  "Word  that  is  contrary  to  His 
teaching  in  His  works;  nothing  in  the  new  creation 
contrary  to  His  law  in  the  old;  nothing  in  revealed 
theology  contrary  to  what  we  call  natural. 

And  since  His  "Word  lo  man  comes  after  His  crea- 
tion of  man,  there  can  be  nothing  of  God's  testimony 
in  the  Word  contradicting  what  can  be  proved  to 
have  been  God's  testimony  in  His  works.  Science 
never  has  discovered,  and  never  can,  any  thing  in 
God's  works  contrary'  to  God's  Scriptures. 

But,  as  the  universe  of  God's  works  requii-es  both  a 
telescopic  and  microscopic  intelligence  and  investiga- 
tion, so  docs  that  of  His  Word,  with  a  fuU  faith  that 
both  the  large  and  the  little  are  equally  from  God, 
and  known  unto  Him ;  the  letters  and  words  as  weU 
as  the  sentences.  It  is  right  and  just  in  God  as  our 
Father  to  require  that  His  children  should   believe 


Faith,  Doiibt,  and  Evidence.  i^^ 

what  He  speaks  for  their  good.  It  is  not  an  imi)osi- 
tion  upon  man,  nor  an  arbitrary  exaction,  any  more 
than  with  the  angels,  nor  any  restraint  upon  the 
freedom  of  his  reason;  but  it  belongs  to  the  secu- 
rity and  perfection  of  all  reason,  it  is  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  human  reason,  the  perfect  freedom  of  its 
exercise,  the  element  of  liberty  and  strength.  The 
gift  of  a  diA'ine  revelation  being  the  highest  pri\'i- 
lege  and  rightful  heritage  of  man;  the  right  to  be- 
lieve in  it  and  act  accordingly,  from  his  birth,  is  his 
property,  his  prerogative,  his  happiness,  his  duty,  his 
life,  as  an  inteUigent,  free,  immortal  being. 

"Whatever,  on  fail*  and  full  examination,  with  prayer 
to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  light,  possesses  sufficient 
proof  to  human  reason  for  belief  in  it  as  the  truth  of 
God  for  our  guidance,  has  the  first  and  highest  claim. 
It  is  God's  incvilahlc  claim  of  prepossession  in  the 
opinions  and  beliefs  of  the  beings  He  has  framed  for 
their  own  happiness,  to  love  and  trust  and  worship 
Him.  His  revelation  of  Himself  to  man,  and  the 
capacity  and  freedom  of  communion  with  his  ]\Iaker, 
began  with  the  hour  of  his  creation,  and  the  free- 
dom of  saying,  Our  Father.  And  the  word  Creator 
comprehends  every  thing  of  duty  and  guidance  and 
blessedness  following  in  a  divine  revelation. 

Now,  inasmuch  as  the  ground  of  human  educa- 
tion must  be  preoccupied  with  something,  shall  fallen 


1^6         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

man  write  tlie  first  page,  or  shall  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  ?  Which  power  shall  have  first  possession, — 
belief  or  unbelief?  For  it  has  come  to  this,  that 
there  can  be  no  middle  ground.  If  j-ou  reject  the 
Bible,  it  is  not  a  serene  impartiality,  that  takes  pos- 
session, but  an  assumption  of  the  non-divinity,  the 
falsehood,  the  unrectitude  and  absolute  forgery,  of 
divine  truth.  It  is  an  accusation,  at  the  very  least, 
of  an  niegal,  unauthorized,  squatter  sovereignty;  and 
over  the  threshold  of  the  homestead  of  the  tenant 
hangs  a  writ  of  dispossession  and  ejection. 

Divine  truth  is  G-od's  right  of  prepossession;  but 
scientific  conceit,  Rationahsm,  the  Higher  Criticism, 
so  called,  and  a  secular  education,  make  such  blessed 
prepossession  an  impossibility.  For  the  ver}-  being 
of  God  is  put  by  this  philosophy  of  sense  at  the 
mercy  of  the  creatui'es  of  His  wisdom  and  power,  as 
requu'ing  a  personal  experience  of  creation  itself,  on 
the  ground  that  otherwise  the  proof  of  design  is  im- 
possible, and  aU  evidence  of  any  past  communion  of 
God  with  the  human  race  equally  impossible,  and  all 
proof  of  any  future  existence  doubtful,  and  much 
]i:  ii;'  all  assurance  of  wliat  certainties  may  be  be- 
fore us  in  that  future  state.  For  all  these  things  an 
anchorage  for  our  souls  is  necessary  in  that  very  cer- 
tainty, governing  all  known  truth,  in  which  Chi-ist's 
own  existence  had  its  anchorage  and  its  ruling,  namely 


Fa  nil.   Doubt,  and  Evidence.         i^j 


an  infallible  divine  revelation,  the  axiom  and  grav- 
itating centre  of  which  for  all  ages,  from  God  and  to 
God  is  just  this,  it  is  writtex.  Making  that  which 
Huxley,  and  a  host  of  imitators  have  affinned  to  be 
bibliolatry,  our  onl}-  security  for  the  worship  of  God 
in  spirit  and  in  truth,  through  Him,  and  His  exam- 
jile,  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life. 

The  whole  of  God's  revelation  must  be  truth  and 
doctrine,  taught  by  God's  authority,  from  the  very 
beginning.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth."  Pure  assertion,  but  divine  in- 
struction, every  word  of  it,  every  thought  in  it;  not 
one  iota  of  proof  by  human  witnesses  or  science.  How 
could  there  be?  Who  was  there  to  see,  except  it 
had  been  the  atavistic  ghost  of  Professors  Huxley  or 
Tyndall,  beholding,  out  of  the  prepotency  of  matter, 
this  fair  creation  rising.  But  who  created  and  pre- 
pared them  to  behold?  The  insanity  of  the  demand 
for  proof  is  equalled  only  by  the  moral  delirium  that 
denies  a  Creator,  because  the  creatiu'e  could  not  see 
and  bear  witness,  as  an  expert,  to  the  fact  of  himself 
coming  into  existence  at  the  word  of  an  Almighty 
Being,  already  visible  to  an  eye  and  a  reasoning 
mind,  itself  not  yet  created!  What  a  concentration 
of  insanities,  labelled  as  science,  before  which  the 
demonstrations  of  Christianity  must  be  withdrawn, 
as  wantiusT  evidence  to  the  senses ! 


/jc?         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XXIII. 

GOD'S   METHOD   OF  A  PREPOSSESSING   LOVE   IN  THE 
HUMAN   CONSCIENCE. 

We  have  said  that  a  prepossession  of  the  con- 
science by  God's  truth  is  God's  right  as  our  Crea- 
tor and  Educator,  the  teacher  of  our  immortality, 
and  of  our  eternal  responsibility  to  Himself.  It  is 
also  the  wisdom  and  safety  of  the  creature  to  be 
prepossessed  by  God,  and  to  have  His  truth  grow 
in  us  and  with  us  as  our  life,  as  its  inspiring  and 
guiding,  jDrinciple.  "  Concerning  the  works  of  men, 
by  the  word  of  Thy  lips,  I  have  kept  me  from  the 
paths  of  the  Destroyer."  This  is  the  rule  of  thought, 
feeling  and  active  life  projDOunded  in  that  wise  and 
beautiful  little  gem  of  George  Herbert's  jioetry,  en- 
titled "The  Elixir": 

"Teach  me,  my  God  and  King, 
In  all  things  Thee  to  see; 
And  what  I  do  in  any  thing, 
To  do  it  as  for  Thee. 

•'Not  rudely,  as  a  beast, 
To  run  into  an  action; 
But  still  to  make  Thee  i^repossest, 
And  give  it  Thy  perfection." 

It  is  the   characteristic   of  secularism   to  run,  by 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         i^g 

its  veiy  axioms,  in  the  matter  of  education,  as  far 
off  as  possible  from  God.  The  secularists  are  in- 
defatigable to  protect  the  children  from  religion  as 
an  intruder  and  despot.  Christ  is  required  to  de- 
part out  of  their  coasts,  as  though  the  children 
were  a  consecrated  possession  of  the  god  of  this 
world,  without  the  least  right  of  inheritance  in  the 
knowledge  of  another.  Sometimes  it  is  as  if  the  ter- 
ror were  on  them  of  being  tui-ned  by  religion  into 
swine. 

God's  method  is  that  of  prepossessing  and  pre- 
venting love.  Let  Thy  tender  mercies  speedily  pre- 
vent us.  Thou  preventest'  him  with  the  blessings 
of  goodness.  This  is  God's  merciful  care  for  oui- 
immortal  natures,  forewarning  us  whom  we  should 
fear;  also  He  hath  set  eternity  and  the  sense  of  it 
in  their  hearts,  so  fearfully  and  wonderfully  are  we 
made;  has  sunk  the  foundations  of  His  everlasting 
authority  in  the  constitution  of  the  soul,  and  fas- 
tened "preventer  bolts"  for  protection  of  the  work- 
ing of  the  conscience  towards  Him.  So  that,  if  men 
but  choose  to  avail  themselves  of  these  advantages 
in  the  work  of  education,  it  is  God's  mortgage  on 
His  own  property,  made  over  to  the  teachers  of 
God's  truth,  for  foreclosure  on  every  generation. 

Such  prepossession  of  the  whole  being  is  God's 
right  and  man's   happiness.     Otherwise,  the  ground 


i6o        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

not  pre-emjjted  and  possessed  by  God's  authority 
will  be  invaded  by  Satan,  who  provides  for  seven 
devils,  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than 
the  first.  He  undertook  the  first  scheme  of  secular 
education  in  Eden. 

"Him  there  they  found 
Squat  like  a  toad,  close  at  the  ear  of  Eve." 

And  now,  where  God  is  not,  the  serjDent  is,  in 
heart  and  mind.  And  as  a  man  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he,  and  such  is  his  development.  For 
the  princijiles  of  heart,  mind,  character,  are  there  at 
the  foundation,  and  the  whole  house  of  our  being  is 
not  only  raised  upon  them  as  a  superstructure,  but 
grows  out  of  them  with  a  life  and  energy  derived 
from  them.  If  we  are  children  of  God  we  are  rooted 
and  grounded  in  Clirist  and  in  His  love,  and  si:)eak- 
ing  the  truth  in  love,  we  grow  up  into  Him  in  all 
things.  "We  are  also  buLlded  together  in  Him,  in 
whom  all  the  buildiug,  fitly  framed  together,  grow- 
etli  unto  a  holy  teinjile  in  the  Lord,  in  whom 
we  are  builded  together  for  an  habitation  of  God 
through  the  Spu'it.  All  this  from  the  prepossession 
of  God's  acre  by  roots  and  principles  in  Christ,  by 
grace  and  truth  in  Him  from  the  beginning,  from 
childhood  to  manhood,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Son 
of  God. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  i6i 

This  is  God's  divine  education  in  us,  with  us,  for 
us,  that  every  man  may  be  presented  perfect  in 
Christ  Jesus,  that  we  be  no  more  children  tossed 
to  and  fro,  as  foundlings  in  Satan's  almshouse,  and 
"  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the 
sleight  of  men  and  cunning  craftiness,"  but  speak- 
ing the  truth  in  love,  may  grow  up  into  Him  in  all 
things,  which  is  the  head,  even  Christ,  in  whom 
dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  godhead  bodily,  that 
we  may  be  complete  in  Him,  being  filled  by  the 
knowledge  of  His  love  with  all  the  fulness  of  God. 
These  wonderful  expressions,  and  these  combinations 
and  commingiings  of  figures,  are  but  shadows  of  the 
glory  of  that  infinitely  blissfxil,  life-giving  education 
in  Christ,  which  God  hath  devised  for  us  and  put 
in  practice  upon  us  in  the  powerful  attractions  of 
the  gospel,  having  so  learned  Christ  as  to  be  created 
anew  in  His  image.  The  Holy  Spu-it  bearing  wit- 
ness with  our  spiiit  that  we  are  the  children  of 
God,  the  divine  consciousness  and  the  human  in 
this  regeneration  at  length  becoming  one  and  the 
same. 

Prevention  is  better  than  cure,  and  prepossession 
is  jjreposition,  and  if  held  as  firmly  as  taken,  secm'es 
the  victor^'.  Prei^osition  is  power;  and  preposses- 
sion in  a  right  way,  by  the  elements  of  truth,  is  not 
only  nine-tenths  of  the   law,  but,   in  divine  love,  is 


l62         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  "whole  law.  Let  any  man  take  a  comioreliensive 
dictioiiaiy  of  any  language,  the  English  especially, 
with  the  references  and  illustrative  quotations,  and  he 
can  read  no  more  solemn  and  profoundly  instructive 
pages,  even  in  the  most  sacred  moralists,  than  he 
can  in  tracing  the  words  comjDounded  with  the  gov- 
erning particles  pre  and  pro.  From  j)i"e-ftccusation 
(the  very  first  compound  noun  occurring  in  this 
form,  and  for  the  consciousness  of  guilt  how  sig- 
nificant!) down  through  pre-admonition,  precaution, 
preception,  predilection,  iDredisjiosition,  pre-emption, 
jore-judication,  and  so  on,  to  the  last  of  the  aljiha- 
bet,  jjresentiment,  j)resumi)tion,  pretension,  preven- 
tion, jirevision.  Forewarned,  forearmed.  "Preven- 
ient  grace  descending,"  builds  lighthouses  in  our 
very  language  for  us,  foreseeing,  foretelling  our 
dangers,  our  refuges,  the  reefs,  the  shoals,  the  har- 
bors. Agree  with  thine  adversary  quickh',  while 
thou  art  in  the  way  with  him. 

PrejDossession  waits  on  preposition;  the  last  is 
first,  the  first  follows  and  holds.  So  it  is  with  right 
principles,  taking  the  highest  positions  and  confirmed 
by  habits.  In  our  War  of  Indej^endence,  Ticonder- 
oga  was  fortified  by  the  Americans.  They  had  jire- 
possession.  But  to  have  secured  that,  to  have  held 
it  against  the  enemy,  there  should  have  been  pre- 
position, higher  up,  not  only  of  that  fort,  but  of  ev- 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         i6j 

erj  other  higher  eminence,  from  which  an  enemy, 
having  prepossessed  that  height,  could  overlook, 
overshoot,  and  dispossess  the  other.  And  so  the 
native-born  patriots  had  to  move  out.  It  is  the 
warning  lesson  for  a  right  education,  a  right  begin- 
ning, a  granite  foundation. 

There  must  be  jirepossession  in  some  way,  and  that 
way  ought  to  be  the  truth.  "When  once  the  truth  is 
discovered,  every  new  soul  brought  into  life  ought 
to  be  preoccupied  with  that  certainty  of  truth,  and 
not  with  doubt  or  falsehood.  The  right  system  of  the 
heavens  having  been  discovered,  every  child  ought  to 
be  prepossessed  with  that  knowledge,  and  not  with 
ignorance  or  darkness,  or  the  old  Ptolemaic  system. 
And  so,  above  all,  in  religion.  The  highest  fort  near- 
est heaven  ought  to  be  taken.  And  it  certainly  be- 
longs to  God.  To  whom  else  ?  If  there  be  a  God, 
thai  knowledge  ought  to  be  a  jorepossession.  And 
if  there  be  a  divine  revelation,  a  disclosure  and  com- 
mand from  God  as  to  our  duty  and  His  worship,  our 
life  and  happiness  in  Him,  that  also  ought  to  be  a  jn-e- 
posscssion.  But  if  there  be  a  God,  the  Creator  and 
Father  of  mankind,  there  mud  ham  been  a  revela- 
tion; for  reason  re-afFirms  what  revelation  announces, 
as  a  cardinal  position  for  the  soul,  that  "  good  and 
upright  is  the  Lord,  therefore  will  He  teach  sinners 
in  the  way."     Men  could  not  have  lived  six  thousand 


i6jJ.        Failli,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

years,  or  as  some  of  "  the  scientists "  affirm,  sixty 
thousand  or  a  milhon,  without  God  reveahng  Himself. 

But  from  the  first  moment  of  God  becoming  known 
by  divine  revelation,  there  must  be  that  prepossession 
in  the  soul  by  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  by  faith  in 
Him,  or  the  man  is  no  longer  a  rational  creatui'e,  but 
a  beast.  A  rational  creature,  without  a  prepossession 
in  behalf  of  God,  is  a  brute  without  the  excuse  of  the 
brute's  ignorance. 

There  must  be  opinions  that  are  organic  growths 
and  meant  to  stand  and  serve  like  the  teeth  for  the 
prej)aration  of  our  daily  food,  like  the  gastric  juice 
for  digestion.  Opinions  that  grind  up  a  multiplicity 
of  facts  and  thoughts,  reducing  them  to  a  condition 
fit  for  swallowing  and  assimilation.  Of  such  a  na- 
ture is  the  inherited  cojiviction  of  the  divine  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of  God;  a  conviction  or 
belief  without  which  the  mind  is  as  a  ship  at  sea,  dis- 
masted, rudderless,  the  sport  of  winds  and  waves,  the 
compass  useless.  "WTienever  the  south  wind  blows 
softly,  men  are  very  apt  to  supj)ose  they  have  ob- 
tained their  purpose,  but  when  neither  sun  nor  stars 
in  many  days  appear,  and  the  sliij:)  can  not  bear  up 
into  the  wind,  but  must  be  let  drive  before  it,  and  yo\x 
can  get  no  observations,  nor  take  reckoning,  but  are 
as  a  cloud  carried  with  a  tempest,  what  is  to  be  done  ? 
This   is  just   the   condition   of   many   minds   on   the 


raiiJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         165 

ocean  of  immortality.  They  have  no  compass;  they 
did  not  take  it  on  board  at  the  beginning  of  the  voy- 
age ;  not  a  single  league  of  their  path  has  ever  been 
guided  by  it. 

Now,  have  the  children  of  the  State  no  right  to 
a  compass  for  their  immortality,  or,  can  that  safe- 
guard be  justly  forbidden  in  any  school?  Have  the 
children  no  rights  of  such  prepossession  from  God? 
Are  we  not  guardians  for  them  in  this  inheritance? 
"  Safer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  Me,  and  forbid 
them  not."  Shall  the  State  be  permitted  to  step  in 
between  thcna  and  Christ,  to  hide  His  face.  His  Hght, 
His  truth,  from  them;  to  send  them  forth  into  the 
world  with  every  other  provision  except  that  one 
only,  which  all  human  experience  has  taught  to  be 
necessary?  Shall  that  one  safeguard  of  character 
be  forbidden, — the  conscience  towards  God,  and  the 
knowledge  of  a  Saviour's  love  ?  Can  the  people 
convey  to  the  State,  as  theu*  trustees,  the  power  of 
such  an  immolation  of  the  children  on  the  altar  of 
Secularism?  Is  there  any  right,  even  in  the  sin- 
cerest  infidelity,  to  make  such  submission  of  their 
character,  their  principles,  to  the  god  of  this  world, 
for  him  to  write  his  image  and  superscription  on 
them? 

"  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto  Me,  and 
forbid  them  not,"  is  the  central  law  of  God  in  Christ 


i66        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

for  tlie  education  of  mankind;  and  He  has  given  to 
GUI*  States  and  towns  in  America  the  opportunities 
and  advantages  of  ti'jing  this  divine  experiment  on 
such  a  scale,  and  with  such  security,  as  no  other 
nation  has  ever  j-ct  possessed.  The  hxw  of  such  edu- 
cation is  as  comprehensive  and  binding  as  the  gold- 
en law  of  love. 

Hold  a  child's  mind  up  to  Christ  in  the  arms  of 
faith  and  prayer,  and  God,  by  His  Spirit,  will  pho- 
tograph the  face  of  Christ  uj)on  it  and  within  it, 
and  it  shall  grow  in  His  likeness.  A  knowledge  of 
the  gosj^els  wall  do  this,  and  it  is  impossible  to  teU 
how  little  of  this  light  God  may  bless,  or  what  mid- 
titudes  may  have  Christ  formed  within  them  the  hope 
of  glory,  even  through  the  apparently  insignificant 
and  brief  instrumentality  of  only  five  minutes'  ac- 
knowledgment of  God  dail}^  in  the  reading  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  any  one  verse  or  version  of 
Christ's  invitations  to  the  soul.  But  not  if  you  con- 
ceal the  gospel.  Not  if  you  shut  all  knowledge  of 
Christ  and  prayer  out  of  the  school.  Not  if  you 
prepossess  the  child's  mind  with  the  maxims  of  this 
world,  and  a  worldly  morality  only.  Not  if  you  keep 
the  child  in  ignorance  of  the  very  existence  and 
mercy  of  a  Saviour,  on  the  pretence  that  a  single 
unbelieving  conscience  has  the  right  to  exclude  all 
such  knowledge  from  the  school. 


Faiik,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  i6y 

XXI7  &  xxy. 

METHOD   OF   THE   DESTRUCTIVES. 

Every  one  of  these  principles,  and  even  the  power 
of  God  to  make  an  infallible  revelation,  is  denied  by 
various  classes  of  sceptics;  and  the  very  assertion  of 
the  duty  of  belief  in  God  and  His  Word,  and  of  the 
wrongfulness  of  unbelief  is  affirmed  to  be  a  theologi- 
cal intolerance,  an  act  of  bigotry,  a  persecution  of 
the  human  mind,  and  a  barrier  against  the  discov- 
eries of  science  in  the  globe,  and  of  tnith  in  histoiy. 
This  is  the  argument  of  Prof.  Huxley's  frequent 
consecrations  of  doubt  as  a  governing  scientific  prin- 
ciple, and  his  sarcasms  and  contempt  of  justification 
by  faith  as  a  revealed  principle;  and  in  like  manner 
Mr.  Eussell  Martineau's  assertion  of  Hebrew  history, 
as  beginning,  because  all  other  histories  do,  "with 
mythic  Heroes,  at  a  time  Avhen  the  Gods  themselves 
were  imagined  to  people  the  earth  with  then-  kind." 
This  is  the  argument  of  his  Translation  and  com- 
mendation of  "Ewald's  History  of  Israel,"  namely, 
tliat  as  all  human  histories  have  theii'  begiuniuo-  in 
fables,  legends,  falsehoods  of  tradition,  therefore,  if 
any  thing  is  caUed  or  deemed  a  divine  history,  it 
must  have  begun  with  the  same,  and  can  not  be 
divine. 


i68         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

"Hebrew  tra-clitiou,"  says  Ewald  (vol.  i.  p.  41),  " o)% 
whatever  stage  it  introduces  the  Deity,  acting  and  incar- 
nating itself  in  history,  is  alicays  mythic  on  those  occa- 
sions; and  it  is  of  no  use  to  deny  ihoi  in  this  it  ap- 
proaches the  st^'le  and  nature  of  heathen  mythologies." 
So,  the  very  foundation  of  Ewald's  History  includes  a 
l^rimal  denial  of  God's  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  It  begins  with  the  arbitraiy  dislocation 
and  breaking  up  of  those  Scriptures,  and  then  pro- 
ceeds with  conjectures  and  assumptions  of  certainty 
in  uninspired  imaginary  "books  of  origins,"  and  se- 
lected fragments  and  traces  of  traditions,  with  guiding 
analogies  adopted  from  the  mythical  legends  and  fab- 
ulous beginnings  of  all  nations;  and  so  builds  ujs  a 
mere  human  history,  that  is  to  take  the  place  of  be- 
lief in  the  Scri^jtures,  their  inspiration  being  first  ex- 
orcised as  a  falsehood. 

The  work  of  Kvuenen  at  Leyden,  on  the  "  Religion 
of  Israel  to  the  Fall  of  the  Jewish  State,"  is  still 
more  destructive,  extreme,  and  sweeping  in  its  in- 
fidelity, but  on  the  same  grounds.  The  false  proph- 
ets of  Judah  live  over  again.  First,  "  they  have  be- 
lied the  Lord,  and  said.  It  is  not  He."  Then,  with 
arra}'  of  stuj^endous  learning,  they  reason  from  their 
own  eiTidite  myths  and  ghosts  of  imaginary  books 
and  authors,  by  which,  with  assumed  dates  and  tra- 
ditions, thoy  undertake  to  build  up  their  f^om])OUiid 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         t6g 

reconstructions  of  a  Bible  of  their  own,  to  be  im- 
posed ui^on  men's  credulity  by  their  own  authority, 
instead  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  And  so,  as  of  old, 
"  from  the  prophets  of  the  deceit  of  then*  own  hearts 
they  speak  a  vision  not  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord; 
dreams,  which  they  tell  every  man  to  his  neighbor, 
causing  the  people  to  err  by  their  hes  and  theii*  Hght- 
ness;  so  that  profaneness  is  gone  forth  into  all  the 
land." 

The  description  in  Jer.  xxiii.  is  of  "a  horrible  thing" ; 
yet  it  is  renewed  to-day  in  such  works  as  these  of 
Ewald  and  Kuenen,  Colenso  and  Renan;  and  it  is  af- 
firmed that  "  the  mythical  system,  as  understood  and 
Avieldcd  by  its  chief  ma^ler.^,  is  any  thing  but  destruc- 
tive of  histoiy,  and  rather  viakes  a  history  where  before 
there  was  none." 

It  invents  an  enormous  and  demoralizing  forgery, 
continued  and  connived  at  through  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years,  and  then  endows  that  forgerv  with  a  new- 
creating  sanctifying  life  and  power,  denied  to  have 
over  existed  in  God's  truth,  or  come  from  heaven.  A 
falsehood  is  installed  as  the  omnipotent  deity  of  He- 
brew history,  and  we  are  commended  to  its  results 
in  the  piety  of  Josiah,  as  a  proof  of  the  subHme  ge- 
nius of  its  author ! 

The  regeneration  of  a  whole  kingdom  and  peojile, 
and  their  being  instantly  brought  back  from  idolatry 


I  JO         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

to  God's  pure  woi-sliip,  through  the  efficacy  of  a 
forged  law-book,  by  an  imknowu  author,  -without  a 
single  proof  or  authentication,  and  by  a  conspivAcy 
of  priests,  is  a  niu-acle,  that  only  Ewald's  rational 
credulity,  denying  all  divine  insi^iration,  couJd  digest. 
Yet  this  is  the  piuified  and  restored  history  of  Israel. 
"  All  exegesis,"  says  Havemick,  "  which  bids  such  de- 
fiance to  aU  the  rules  of  sound  hermeneutics,  and 
supposes  a  concerted  scheme  of  forger)',  such  as  was 
affirmed  by  De  Wette,  Ls  indeed  undaserving  of  any 
fui-ther  refutation." — ^See  Havemick  on  the  Penta- 
teuch, Sec.  28-35.  And  compare  Stillingiieet,  "  Orig- 
ines  Sacrse,"  Vol.  L,  Book  2,  on  the  impossibUit}'  of  a 
forgery  of  the  Laws  of  Moses. 

There  is  no  jx)ssibility  of  a  liistoiy  of  the  Jewish 
people  aiid  church  without  the  Old  Testament  Script- 
urea 

Now  then,  if  we  take  those  Scriptures  as  history' 
at  all,  or  the  foimdation  of  history,  ive  have  to  build 
xqxjn  ivlicd  tl\eij  i-ecord,  as  originating  facts  and  prin- 
ciples. We  can  not  turn  out  the  living  soul,  and 
j)ut  in  place  of  it  an  automaton  chess-jilayer  of  our 
own  const  ruction,  and  call  that  liistovy.  "We  can  not 
e.xorcise  a  divine  iaispiration  from  the  chaa'tuiters  and 
their  biograpliies,  as  if  the  reality  were  a  demon, 
and  the  rcx;ox\l  of  it  a  fjilsehood,  and  then  proceed 
to   manufactiu'c  a  liiiitory  out  of   tuu-  own  supposi- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidejicc.         ijT 

tion,  conjecture,  and  sagacity,  instead  of  thai  which 
testifies  in  the  Hebrew  ttooks.  There  is  no  history  to 
deal  with,  nor  any  that  can  be  constructed,  without 
admitting  a  divine  inspiration,  and  tracing  its  work. 
For  it  is  that  which  has  created  and  preserved  the 
nation,  and  any  treatment  of  the  history  Avithout  that 
is  unhistorical  and  false.  It  is  that,  and  only  that, 
which  has  produced  and  maintained  all  the  influ- 
ence of  the  nation,  and  of  its  history,  over  other 
nations,  and  has  connected  its  history  with  Chris- 
tianit}',  as  the  vertebra  of  the  human  frame  are 
connected  with,  and  govern,  the  whole  development 
of  the  perfect  human  being,  body,  soul,  and  spirit. 

For  the  history  is  in  the  ideas,  and  the  ideas  are  in 
the  history,  its  grasping  and  assimilating  life,  the  very 
power  and  method  of  God's  manifestation,  and  the 
connection  and  progress  from  the  beginning,  till  in 
Christ  "  the  life  is  manifested,"  and  in  Him  the  Jew- 
ish history  expands  into  th?  Christian,  whose  eye  wit- 
nesses and  Christ — inspired  recorders  "  bear  witness, 
and  show  unto  us  that  Eternal  Life,  which  was  -with 
tlie  Father,  and  was  manifested  unto  them."  The 
whole  of  modern  histoiy,  from « that  era  is  only  a 
huge  myth  and  mist,  except  the  histoiy  of  the  Jew- 
ish nation  and  church  be  accepted  as  true,  with  God 
in  it.  If  men  can  make  God  a  liar  in  His  own  rev- 
elation of  His  own  providential  and  spiritual  work, 


1^2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

there  is  no  God,  and  what  men  call  history,  or  pre- 
tend to  have  accurately  filtered  out  of  divine  false- 
hood, is  nothing  but  a  compound  of  atheism  and 
tying.  "  If  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom 
do  your  children  cast  them  out  ? "  By  whom  do 
Ewald,  Kuenen  and  Colenso  cast  out  Moses  as  a 
devil,  and  install  the  dagons  of  their  own  invention 
as  deities  of  their  own  reconstructed  Bible  ? 

This  treatment  of  the  history  of  the  Jewish  church 
is  unhistorical,  even  supposing  the  Scrii:)tural  records 
were  merely  human,  and  to  be  dealt  with  as  such. 
Tor  if  you  deal  with  these  books  as  mere  ordinary 
uninsi>ired  literature,  such  as  the  early  histories  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  you  are  bound  to  note  what  is 
actually  in  them,  what  they  testify  in  regard  to  God, 
and  His  purposes,  interj^ositions,  teachings,  and  dis- 
cij^line;  you  are  bound  to  state  all  this  in  full,  and 
to  show  what  it  really  is  in  the  histories;  making  a 
people  uuder  God's  supernatural,  providential  and 
spiritual  training.  You  are  at  liberty,  indeed,  after 
relating  all  this,  to  say  as  atheists,  if  you  choose, 
that  this  was  mere  fanaticism  or  suj^erstition,  and 
that  God  never  was  .thus  present,  manifesting  Him- 
self to  these  Jews,  and  teaching  them  and  providing 
for  their  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  needs,  and 
making  them  a  peculiar  i)eople  by  covenant  miracles 
and  grace.     You   are  free  to  blaspheme,  if  you  will. 


Faii/i,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         lyj 

But  the  real  history  of  the  peojole  is  one  of  God's 
presence  among  them,  and  deahngs  with  them,  and 
acknowledged  sovereignty  over  them,  and  of  divine 
ideas  and  potencies,  constituting  all  their  truth,  her- 
oism, and  superiority.  And  to  take  this  history  on 
the  princii:)le  and  premise  that  it  is  merely  human, 
not  divine,  and  therefore  that  the  divine  in  it  is 
falsehood,  so  that,  in  order  to  get  at  the  truth 
you  must,  by  your  own  conjectures  and  theories, 
without  evidence,  dej^hlogisticate  it  of  God,  immor- 
tality, and  spiritual  life,  and  then  present  the  remain- 
ing caput  moHuum  as  the  accurate  result  defecated  of 
superstition,  just  as  Wolfe  and  Niebuhr  exorcised 
the  myths  and  falsehoods  of  time,  superstition  and 
ignorance  from  antic^ue  Greek  and  Roman  poetic 
and  historic  remains; — this  is  as  uncritical  and  un- 
philosophical  as  it  is  irreverent,  arrogant,  and  ir- 
religious. 

This  deracinating,  dislocating,  ruthless  process  of 
confusion  and  darkness,  uj)on  God's  spiritiial  crea- 
tions for  man's  eternal  life,  is  well  called  the  Criti- 
cism of  Destructives;  though  it  boasts  of  being  the 
i:)erfection  of  keen,  discriminating,  fearless,  reason- 
ing, as  of  supematm-ally  endowed  detectives  or  ex- 
perts. The  process  is  that  of  a  Simoom,  a  whii-lwind 
of  suflbcating  flame.  The  Decalogue  is  a  falsehood, 
and  the  Leviticiil  Law  and  ritual  a  mere  buttressing 


ijjf.         FdilJi,  Djiut,  aiii  Ejidcncc. 

and  dragging  mechauisni '  in  the  hands  of  the  "bnl- 
lock-slaj'ing,  fumigating,  ignorant  servants  of  the  sac- 
rificial slaughter-house."  AU  this  brutal  caricature  is 
put  forth  as  history,  and  by  it  the  Old  Testament 
is  of  less  worth  than  the  Egyjotian  Book  of  the 
Dead.  The  most  sacred  things  become  the  jest  of 
blasjohemy  and  scoi'n;  the  house  of  prayer  a  den  of 
thieves;  the  types  of  Christ  a  dictionary  of  the  fe- 
tisches  of  cruelty  and  superstition. 

Instead  of  being,  as  in  our  Lord's  interpretation, 
to  the  adoring  joy  of  His  disciples,  the  great  con- 
stant prevision,  the  foreshining  light,  of  the  Aton- 
ing Sacrifice,  the  presence  and  mercy  beforehand 
of  the  Lamb  of  God,  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world,  through  which  guilty  men  might  be  made 
to  feel  the  burden  of  sin,  and  be  trained  to  faith  and 
penitential  prayer  for  pardon,  the  whole  scheme  is 
an  elaborate,  repulsive,  blasj)heming  fraud.  All  the 
glory  disappears,  abstracted,  as  the  life  fi'om  a  se- 
raphic body,  so  that  the  remnant  becomes  a  corjDse, 
and  if  preserved  at  all,  is  only  by  critical  and  rhetor- 
ical embalming,  for  mechanical  j^urposes,  but  with  no 
spiritual  redeeming  truth  left,  or  ever  intended. 

The  master-key  of  a  divine  interpretation  being 
tlirown  away,  our  compasses  broken  up,  and  the  his- 
tory searched  only  on  the  theory  of  its  not  being  in- 
s^Dii'ed,   the  discovery  of  truth   by  lecturers  on  the 


Faiih,  DoilM,  and  Evidence.         ij^ 

people  and  tlieir  liistoiy,  with  sucli  pre-suppositions, 
becomes  impossible.  It  is  as  if,  in  j)assing-  through  a 
wilderness  where  a  family  has  been  lost,  or  on  an  ex- 
j)edition  such  as  sought  for  Sir  John  Franklin  in  the 
Arctic  regions,  you  began  by  destro3'ing  all  the  way- 
marks  and  rehcs  of  the  wanderers,  and  obliterating 
the  trails,  by  which  a  lost  company  might  be  traced 
and  rescued,  esj^ecially  the  crosses,  by  which  j-ou 
might  know  that  Clu-istiau  believers,  not  pagans  or 
savages,  made  those  marks.  So  with  the  painful  at- 
tempt to  disenchant  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  of  their 
divine  types,  their  ministering  angehc  Presences,  their 
sui^ernatural  proi>itiatory  testimonies.  The  treatment 
of  the  history  as  merely  human  results  necessarily  in 
the  expulsion  and  denial  of  Christ  and  His  atoning 
sacrifice;  the  faith  and  hope  of  pardon  and  justifica- 
tion in  and  through  Him  are  abolished  instead  of 
death  and  hell  being  abolished;  and  eve nj  trace  of  any 
divine  purpoi<e  of  redemption  through  His  blood  is  taken 
away.  Compare  all  this  with  such  a  work  of  spir- 
itual truth  and  glory  as  that  of  Edward's  "History 
of  Redemption !  " 

Our  doubts  are  traitors,  and  make  us  lose  the  good 
we  oft  might  win;  how  much  more  when  we  set  them 
up  as  the  only  authoritative  and  reHable  guides.  The 
doubts  of  Job,  and  of  every  earnest  seeker  after 
God,    are    full  of   eternal   light;    it  is   that  which  in 


7/<5         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  twilight  they  are  searcliing  after;  but  tliese  men's 
scornful  certainties  are  the  blackness  of  darkness 
forever. 

A  bad  workman  quarrels  with  his  tools,  and  himself 
undertaking  to  mend  them,  when  he  does  not  know 
their  j^urpose,  only  spoils  them,  and  his  own  work 
with  them. 

The  gospels  themselves  are  but  seeds,  diagrams 
for  demonstration,  hfe-lines,  outlines,  signals  from 
Christ,  presentations  of  Himself,  to  be  followed  and 
filled  in  by  a  loving,  beheving,  and  therefore  apjareci- 
ative  and  discerning  heai-t,  seeking  and  receiving  the 
Holy  Spint's  guidance.  They  are  as  the  buds  in 
spring,  not  to  be  understood  but  by  gi'owing  into 
flower  and  finiit.  Set  in  a  believing  heai't  they  dis- 
close themselves,  revealing  Clu'ist.  It  is  God  shin- 
ing into  the  heart  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Chi-ist.  In 
God's  light,  we  see  Hght. 

Set  in  an  unbelieving,  insensible,  prayerless  heart, 
they  wither  and  die.  Not  even  a  shadow,  or  guess, 
or  type  of  their  fulfilment  and  final  meaning  is  dis- 
closed, and  so,  doubt,  denial  and  despau*,  take  the 
l^lace  of  faith,  hoi)e  and  celestial  assurance.  If  the 
means  given  you  for  working  yourselves  out  of  the 
wilderness  of  si^eculative  doubt  be  turned  into  in- 
struments for  the  destruction  of  celestial  waymai'ks, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         lyy 

what  can  become  of  the  soul!  And  how  miserable 
the  critical  work  of  those  who  lend  thoniselves  to  this 
effort ! 

What  remains  to  be  reconstructed,  or  wha«  worth 
reconstructing  with  all  theso  certainties  thrown  away '? 
How  reconstruct  a  piece  of  tapestry,  when  j-ou  have 
not  only  torn  it  into  fi*agmeuts  and  cast  into  the  fire 
the  original  sketch,  with  the  colored  thread  repre- 
senting it,  but  destroyed  the  loom?  An  atoning 
Saviour  denied,  an  infallible  revelation  annihilated, 
all  the  personalities,  laws,  ceremonies,  promises,  fore- 
telling and  t3-pif3'ing  Christ,  dissolved,  as  with  sul- 
phuric acid,  there  is  neither  basis  of  fact,  nor  spir- 
itual design,  nor  outline,  nor  motive. 

Now  by  what  rule  shall  the  reconstruction  proceed  ? 
By  the  letter?  They  renounce  it,  as  false  and  of 
no  worth.  By  the  Spirit  ?  Thej'  deny  that,  deny 
all  inspiration  of  the  letter,  and  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit.  By  the  plan  of  God,  or  any  discovered  divine 
purpose?  They  reject  that,  and  set  down  God's 
transactions  with  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  as  merest 
myths.  By  the  analogy  of  Faith,  so  called,  which 
tlie  reasoning  and  comparing  mind  discovers  from 
all  the  materials  before  it  ?  The}'  deny  that  as  imag- 
inary or  dogmatic.  By  the  interpretation  of  Christ  ? 
The  very  purpose  of  theu'  criticism  is  to  contradict 
that,  and  prove  it  false.     They  will  reconstruct  by 


lyS        FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

rejecting  Christ's  toachiug,  and  Paul's  and  Joliu's 
testimony,  and  setting  up  pure  assumptions  and 
falsehoods  in  place   of  truth. 

They  dispute  the  facts;  they  deny  the  ideas. 

"We  take  the  facts,  not  to  prejudge  them  as  fables, 
but  to  find  their  meaning;  and  we  demonstrate  the 
facts  by  the  ideas.  The  moment  we  understand  the 
ideas,  the  facts  change  from  dead  or  doubtful  let- 
ters to  living  and  quickening  elements  of  divine  life. 
Touched  with  celestial  fire,  what  were  before  as  mere 
rolls  of  chemical  ingredients  fastened  to  wheels  or 
sticks,  shoot  flaming  into  the  heavens,  and  we  read 
their  meaning,  and  the  facts  become  orbs  of  light. 
We  have  to  receive  the  facts,  and  try  God's  appointed 
experiments  with  them,  in  a  believing,  not  a  destruc- 
tive, scorning  spirit.  A  diamond  will  burn  in  oxygen. 
Deny  the  oxygen,  and  youi*  diamond  is  more  incom- 
bustible than  anthracite  coal.  The  oxygen  is  your 
believing  and  experimenting  atmosphere.  It  is  es- 
sential to  the  miracle.  When  Christ  says,  "  Without 
me  ye  can  do  nothing,"  it  is  the  me  of  God's  Word, 
and  not  of  rational  criticism.  Without  your  faith,  I 
can  do  nothing.  It  is  the  I  am  as  divinely  revealed, 
without  whose  admitted  and  beloved  presence,  no 
faith  is  possible,  but  only  darkness,  not  light.  The 
just  shall  live  by  his  faith.  The  facts  of  revelation, 
that  were   as   a  valley   of   dry   bones  with   ravening 


FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  lyg 

wolves  gnaw-ing  at  them,  stand  up  an  exceeding  great 
army  by  the  Spirit  of  God  breathing  through  them. 

The  history  of  Israel  and  the  Old  Testament  Books, 
appealed  to  by  Christ  as  God's  Word,  become,  under 
the  manipulation  of  these  scholars,  what  Carlyle  said 
of  one  of  the  brightest  periods  in  English  history, 
mangled  and  crushed  in  the  same  way,  "a  divine 
heroi.wi  touched  icilh  Oie  mace  of  death,  and  so  smoth- 
ered, that  no  human  soul  shall  henceforth  recognize 
it  for  a  heroism;  a  dismal  labyrinth,  where  centmies 
have  rotted  down,  and  gone  confusedly  dumb,  under 
this  art  of  burying  heroisms  and  highest  facts  in 
chaos."  It  is  not  men,  but  nightmares  that  have 
wi'itten  and  painted  these  monstrous  caricatures, 
instead  of  angels  walking  with  Adam  and  Eve,  and 
messengers  from  God,  clothed  with  the  rainbows  of 
His  promises  in  the  new  creating  Redeemer  of  our 
fallen  race. 

In  these  pretences  of  a  rational  reconstruction, 
there  is  not  recognized,  even  in  idea,  the  sublime 
work  of  God's  love  in  the  promise  and  coming  of 
Christ  to  bear  our  sins, — nor  any  imagination  of  the 
divine  creation  and  history  of  the  Jewish  Church  be- 
ing to  foreshadow  and  prepare  for  the  Lamb  of  God 
who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

There  is  an  artificial  depression  of  the  true  heav- 
enly  horizon   below   the    visible.     Celestial    truth    is 


iSo  Faiths  Doitbt,  and  Evidence. 

sunk,  and  the  world,  -vvitli  all  its  pageantry,  set  forth 
shining  in  sj)lendor.  It  is  the  work  of  machinists, 
scene-painters  and  changers,  theatrical  curtain  man- 
agers, who  know  nothing  of  the  heavenly  meaning 
of  the  Great  Divine  Tragedy,  finished  with  the  words, 
"My  God!  my  God!  Why  hast  thou  forsaken  me." 

Now  suppose  such  a  series  of  prophecies  to  have 
been  given,  and  historical  frames,  in  which  they 
have  been  set  (for  without  such  margins  they  could 
never  come  to  us  authenticated),  and  suppose  the 
personage  to  have  appeared,  whom  they  foretold, 
would  it  be  j^ossible  for  any  nation  or  j)eople  to  re- 
ceive such  a  messenger,  without  the  authentication 
of  his  credentials?  But  being  once  so  authenticated 
and  received,  could  any  friend  of  his,  or  believer  in 
his  divine  authority,  deny  his  passports,  or  accuse 
his  documents  of  forgery,  without  proving  himself 
an  enemy?  And  especially  could  he  pretend  to  be 
a  friend,  if,  on  account  of  some  conjecture  of  an  in- 
terpolation, or  supj)Osed  discovery  of  anachronisms, 
or  mistake  of  dates,  or  archaisms  in  language,  he 
should  so  disparage  and  discountenance  the  vouchers, 
as  to  make  men  believe  that  they  had  been  tampered 
with  by  rogues  ? 

Suppose  you  have  a  portrait  by  Raphael  or  Titian. 
Shall  a  piece  of  gilding,  broken  away  from  the  frame, 
or  a  l)it  of  stucco  inserted  in  the  wood,  deprive  you  of 


Faith,  Doitbi,  and  Evidence.         i8i 

yoiu-  evidence  ?  Suppose  the  portrait  is  accompauied 
by  seals  of  its  genuineness,  and  vouchers  from  original 
witnesses,  such  as  you  can  not  reject,  without  actually 
rejecting  as  a  fable  the  real  existence  of  such  painters 
at  the  era  assigned  them  in  history.  Shall  the  conjec- 
tured interj)olation  of  a  word  or  words,  or  chronolog- 
ical alteration  of  some  i-ecorded  events,  ^^Test  from 
you  the  assurance  of  your  proj^erty  ?  Or,  if  you  have 
so  studied  the  midisputed  works  of  Raphael  and  Ti- 
tian, that  you  can  with  utmost  confidence  decide  for 
yourself,  will  you  permit  those  paintings  to  pass  from 
your  possession  as  forgeries,  through  the  criticism  of 
men  upon  flaws  which  they  have  detected  in  the  frames, 
or  the  pretended  discovery  of  colors  affirmed  never  to 
have  been  in  use  by  painters  till  long  after  the  time 
when  the  works  of  Raphael  and  Titian  were  finished '? 
Let  God  be  true,  but  every  man  a  liar !  This  very 
proverb  stands  for  its  whole  excellenc}^  upon  the  as- 
sumption that  God  has  really  spoken  to  mankind,  and 
not  only  through  the  laws  of  nature,  but  of  speech 
and  human  thought,  conveying  the  realities  and  meth- 
ods of  God's  attributes  and  government  and  laws 
for  our  good.  xVnd  if  God  has  thus  spoken,  then 
xohal  He  has  spoken  is  infallibly  true,  and  may  be 
certainly  discerned;  for  it  could  not  be  infaUible 
for  you  or  me,  if  we  could  neither  discern  its  meau- 
inflr  nor  its  truth. 


iS2         Faith,  'Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

But  3'et  this  infallibility  must  be  enshrined  in  hu- 
man words,  which  being  human  are'  not  divine,  and 
can  not  be,  except  by  God's  Si)irit  directing  them, 
suggesting  them,  for  the  conveyance  of  absolute 
truth  fi-om  Him.  If  God  has  no  command  of  lan- 
guage and  can  suggest  none  to  mankind,  by  which 
He  can  address  or  convey  the  conceptions  of  immor- 
tality and  eternity  to  the  soul,  then  He  can  never 
commune  with  His  own  creatures,  nor  can  there  be 
any  responsibility  or  accountability  from  them  to 
Him.  If  eternal  results  are  hanging  upon  such  re- 
sponsibility, and  yet  the  creatures  who  are  to  meet 
them  can  not  even  understand  them,  or  command 
any  terms  in  which  they  may  be  as  sure  of  their 
reality,  as  they  are  of  the  being  of  God,  what  is 
called  a  divine  revelation  would  be  of  no  more  use 
to  men  destitute  of  the  idea  of  eternity,  than  a 
turnip  cut  into  the  shape  of  a  watch  could  be  of 
use  to  us  for  the  measurement  of  time  and  for  the 
guidance  of  our  conduct  accordingly.  So  that  to 
common  sense  and  uncommon,  metai^hysically,  math- 
ematically, morally,  theologically,  in  ever}'  way  an 
infaUible  divine  insi^iration  is  for  us  an  axiom  of 
all  reasoning,  if  we  really  have  a  Father  in  heaven. 
It  is  a  divine  insi^iration  or  atheism,  and  to  this  all 
the  issues  must  come. 

If  we  have  an  infallible  inspiration,  then  God  haLh 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         i8j 


made  us  and  will  redeem  us,  trusting  in  Him.  If 
not,  tlicrc  is  no  God,  and  death  is  an  eternal  slee^i. 
For  neither  nature  nor  revelation  could  ever  make 
real  or  credible  the  eternity  of  matter  without  souls, 
or  of  souls  without  a  Father,  or  of  guilt  Avithout 
disobedience  to  His  known  commands,  or  of  pardon 
for  sin  without  His  mercy.  And  a  clear  conveyance 
of  the  way  and  the  terms  of  such  mercy  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  human  behef  in  a  Heavenly  Fa- 
ther. And  therefore  Christ  says,  "  No  man  can  come 
to  me,  except  the  Father  that  hath  sent  me  draw 
hun."  And  this  divine  gravitation  is  upon  every 
human  being,  by  His  Word,  and  His  Spirit,  and 
the  constraint  of  an  eternity  to  come.  Both  His 
"Word  and  His  Spii'it  may  act  upon  consciences  and 
hearts  when  we  do  not  see  it,  and  may  reveal  Christ 
where  we  do  not  know  it.  But  that  Chi'ist  must 
be  revealed,  and  infaUibly  revealed,  in  order  to  sal- 
vation, is  as  sure  as  that  God  exists,  and  mamtains 
a  righteous  government  over  His  universe. 

"  Every  spmt  that  confesseth  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  in  the  flesh  is  of  God."  To  make  that 
confession,  the  inspiration  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures,  Moses  and  the  Law,  the  Prophets  and 
the  Psalms  foretelling  and  describing  Christ,  is  inev- 
itably presupposed  and  acknowledged.  If  not,  there 
is   no   Christ,   nor   any  need,   nor   any   possibility  oi 


jS^        FaitJiy  Doubt y  and  Evidence. 

Him,  nor  any  truth  or  trust  iu  God.  So  that  here 
we  stand  on  the  way  to  eternity,  with  Christ  the 
Author  and  Finisher  of  Faioh  our  Teacher,  and  with- 
out Him,  atheism  and  despair. 

And  in  order  to  the  conquest  of  the  worhl  for 
Christ,  the  old  apologetic  style  of  defence  must  be 
abandoned,  and  the  method  of  aggressive,  imflineh- 
ing,  indisputable  truth  pursued.  To  this  end,  every 
candidate  for  the  ministry  ought  to  be  able  to  say, 
I  can  read  familiarly  not  only  the  Greek  Testament, 
but  the  Hebrew  Bible,  and  I  believe  in  Christ,  as 
the  sole  Divine  Interpreter  of  it,  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  Faith,  and  that  ever}^  j^art  of  Scripture 
which  He  received  as  the  truth  of  God  we  may  and 
must  also  receive,  or  we  can  not  be  His  disciples, 
because,  if  we  reject  His  testimony  we  accuse  Him 
of  falsehood.  And  the  issues  between  truth  and 
falsehood  we  know  to  be  eternal. 

On  no  other  ground  but  of  eternity  and  its  con- 
sequences, could  Paul  ever  ask,  Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  ?  for  this  work  of  preaching  ?  For 
any  man  is  sufficient,  whether  with  Hebrew  or  Greek, 
or  only  Sanscrit  or  English,  if  there  is  no  infallible 
standard  given  us  of  discrimination  between  truth 
and  falsehood.  The  ministry  of  Christ  is  no  more 
•  sacred  than  any  other  ministry,  if  by  any  other  souls 
can  be  saved.     And  there  need  be  none  at  all,  if  tliere 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         iS 


J 


are  no  souls  to  be  lost.  Any  man  is  sufficient  for 
these  things,  if  all  souls  are  to  be  saved  at  any  rate. 
There  is  no  call  for  a  ministry  to  asseii  such  truth; 
for  neither  could  any  harm  come  from  its  denial, 
nor  any  gain  from  its  belief. 

These  sceptical  conjectui'ers  and  scalpers  in  their 
Avork  ujjon  the  Bible  are  like  the  societies  of  body 
suatchers  whose  jDurpose  is  to  get  subjects  for  dis- 
section. Only  there  is  this  gx-eat  difference: — the 
body  snatchers  j^^foi'tn  their  icork  v]x>n.  the  dead  (hat 
tJiey  may  know  the  better  how  to  cure  the  licituj;  but 
these  dissectors  of  the  Scriptures  do  their  work  of 
cutting  and  slashing  to  j^f'oi^e  that  there  is  nothing  hut 
dead  matter  at  all;  no  living  soul,  no  inspiring  Si:)irit, 
all  merely  human,  nothing  divine.  If  it  were  not  for 
the  society  preventing  cruelty  to  animals  they  would 
as  soon  cut  and  slash  a  living  body  as  a  dead  one. 
No  reverence  for  the  Maker  of  the  human  frame 
woidd  deter  them.  Rationalism  is  grounded  in  ma- 
terialism. The  writings  of  Moses  command  no  more 
respect  than  those  of  Livy  and  Herodotus.  The 
criticism  upon  both  is  the  same;  no  divine  prepos- 
session is  admitted.  They  burke  the  lining  that  they 
may  show  then-  skill  in  dissecting  them  as  dead. 


i86        JFaith,  Doitbt,  and  Evidence. 


XXVI. 

THE  RULE  AND  REGULATOR  OF  OUR  REASON  IN 
THE  WORD  OF  GOD  — OUR  COMPASS  AND  CHRO- 
NOMETER  FOR   TLME  AND   ETERNITY. 

"  Good  Master,  what  good  thing  shall  I  do,  that  I 
may  have  Eternal  Life?  And  He  said  unto  him, 
Wh}^  callest  thou  Me  good?  There  is  none  good 
but  One,  that  is  God.  But  if  thou  wHt  enter  into 
life,  keep  the  commandments;  and  come,  follow  Me." 
Matt.  xix.  IG,  17,  21.  "What  is  written  in  the  Law? 
How  readest  thou  ?  " 

Only  from  God  to  man  can  we  reason  rightly,  not 
from  man  to  God.  It  is  clear  fi'om  these  passages 
that  eternal  life,  not  temporal,  was  the  great  ques- 
tion at  issue  among  the  intelligent  Jews,  conversant 
with  the  Scriptures,  when  Christ  came  to  fulfil  them. 
By  His  own  sufferings  and  death  He  j^ut  it  beyond 
all  doubt  that  all  the  words  of  God  to  man,  the 
creature,  take  their  imj^ort  and  their  coloring  for 
the  soul,  from  the  Eternity  and  Hohness  of  the  Cre- 
ator and  Pi-escrvcr.  "The  eternal  God  is  th}^  ref- 
uge, and  underneath  thee  are  the  Everlasting  Arms." 
Deut.  xxxiii.  27,  and  Psalm  xc.  1,  2.  "I  hft  up  my 
hand    to    heaven    and    sa^',    /  live  forever.''  —  Deut. 


Faith,  Doiibl,  and  Evidence.  iSj 

xxxii.  40.  "As  I  live,  saith  the  Loud,  I  have  no 
pleasure  iu  the  death  of  the  wicked,  but  that  the 
wicked  tuni  from  his  way  and  live.  Turn  ye,  for 
why  will  3'e  die?" — Ezek.  xxxiii.  11.  Life  and  death 
take  their  meaning  from  God's  life  and  attributes. 
These  are  the  sanctions  of  the  Divine  Law;  and  thus 
the  song  and  the  blessing  of  Moses,  the  blessing  and 
the  curse,  are  derived  for  all  races  and  generations, 
from  that  one  word  of  God's  life  applied  to  man's. 
Forever. 

"I  shall  begin  Avitli  this,"  says  Bishop  Butler,  open- 
ing his  Analogy,  "  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  our 
hopes  and  of  all  our  fears,  luhich  are  of  any  condder- 
aiion.  I  mean  a  Future  Life."  Butler  was  a  writer 
who  weighed  his  words,  if  ever  reasoner  did;  and  in 
all  his  reasonings  he  meant  a  future  exdless  Life, 
and  the  present,  for  the  future. 

The  grave,  profound,  irresistible  solemnity  with 
which  his  arguments  are  thus  weighted,  is  the  qual- 
ity that  gives  his  book  its  power  over  the  soul.  If 
the  world  to  come  were  not  a  state  of  endless  des- 
tinies, determined  by  our  use  of  this  world,  things 
here  would  be  of  little  moment.  A  stewardship  that 
ends  with  this  life  is  small  indeed  and  trifling.  There 
is  no  such  stewardship.  Every  man  lives  for  Eternity. 
And  this  attribute  of  God's  Eternity  (God  inhabiting 
Eternity,  and  all  that  love  Him  ever  Uving  in  and 


l8S         Faith,  Doitbt,  and  Evidence. 

with  Him),  is  that  1)y  which  alone  we  can  measure 
Time,  or  know  its  vahie.  We  have  to  "  box  this  com- 
pass "  on  the  voyage  of  life,  and  we  can  traverse  its 
magnetisms  of  Divine  intelligence  with  God  only. 

This,  and  nothing  less,  can  be  the  reading  and 
meaning  of  the  declaration  in  the  eleventh  verse  of 
the  third  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  which,  with  the  im- 
mediate context,  is  the  key  to  that  wondrous  book 
(as  indeed  to  aU  the  pages  of  the  Scrij)tures),  name- 
ly, (1)  that  God  hath  set  Eternity  (oJam)  in  the  heart 
of  the  sons  of  men ;  (2)  so  that  no  man  can  find  out 
the  work  that  God  maketh  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end.  And  (3)  whatsoever  God  doeth  it  shall  be  for- 
ever olam ;  (4)  nothing  can  be  put  to  it,  nor  (5)  any 
thing  taken  from  it;  and  God  doeth  it,  (G)  that  men 
should  fear  before  Him;  and  God  (7)  requireth  that 
vhich  is  pad;  for  (8)  God  shall  judge  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked;  for  (9)  there  is  a  time  there,  up  there, 
(10)  for  everij  i^urpose  and  every  icorlc." 

Here  are  concentrated  ten  particulars,  that  God 
only  could  reveal,  concerning  His  own  Eternity,  and 
man's  immortality,  their  connection  and  consequences. 

Our  English  version  translates  the  word  olam  in 
the  eleventh  verse,  as  the  icorld ;  out  of  which  transla- 
tion no  interpreter  can  gather  any  intelligent  mean- 
ing; but  a  sceptic  could  certainly  say,  If  God  has  set 
this  world  in  men's  hearts,  no  wonder  that  they  are 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  iSg 

incorrigibly  worldly.  But  the  same  word  (olam)  oc- 
curring in  the  fourteenth  verse,  our  translators  have 
rendered  it  justly  "Whatsoever  God  doeth,  forever. 
The  eleventh  and  fourteenth  verses  must  have  the 
same  meaning,  for  any  congruity  whatever  in  the 
reasoning,  or  any  vmderstanding  of  the  jDassage. 
For,  what  possible  consistent  significance  can  there 
be  in  it,  unless  men  know  the  meaning  of  forever 
as  defined  by  God's  own  existence  and  law,  binding 
men  to  an  eternal  accountableness  in  all  their  de- 
signs and  doings  before  Him?  Men's  language,  in 
order  to  reveal  God's  truth,  must,  in  all  things  of 
eternal  significance,  be  defined  by  God's  being  and 
attributes,  any  measurement  of  which  God  alone  can 
teach. 

How  otherwise  should  men  fear  before  Him,  except 
only  for  this,  Avhicli  is  added;  that  God  requireth  that 
which  i.<  pa.-<t,  and  that  God  will  judge  the  righteous 
and  the  wicked  for  evenj  purpose  and  for  ecery  ivork. 
Comj)are  the  words  of  Moses,  "  Even  according  to  thy 
feai-,  so  is  thy  wrath." — Psalm  xc.  11.  A  man  must 
believe  this,  and  act  accordingly,  for  if  he  does  not, 
there  is  no  returning  to  this  world  after  death,  to 
coiTect  any  of  his  mistakes  by  the  light  of  an  eternal 
experience ;  for  if  he  does  not  believe  in  God's  learn- 
ings, who  shall  bring  him  to  see  what  shall  be  after 
him?    There  are  only  these  two  sources  of  knowl- 


I  go         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

edge;  sight  iu  regard  to  tlie  present,  and  faith  in 
regard  to  the  future;  and  if  any  man  denies  or  dis- 
believes the  future,  he  must  walk  on  in  darkness,  for 
it  can  not  possibly  be  made  known  to  huu  in  any 
other  way  than  by  revelation  from  the  Omniscient 
God,  Avho  was  and  is  and  is  to  come,  who  inhabilelh 
elernUy,  and  knows  from  eternity  to  eternity,  all 
things  and  consequences. 

Therefore  the  divine  assurance  of  good  for  man  iu 
this  life,  looking  to  that  which  is  to  come,  but  which 
he  has  never  yet  tried,  and  can  not  try,  till  this  life 
is  ended,  is  to  rejoice  in  God,  and  in  Grod's  own  beau- 
tiful things,  and  to  do  good  in  this  life.  That  is  the 
travail  which  God  hath  given  to  the  sons  of  men  out 
of  His  own  divine  mercy,  for  theu*  good.  This  is 
God's  infinite  benevolence,  the  blessed  theology  of 
the  Old  as  of  the  New  Testament,  this  sum  of  God's 
law  of  life  and  happiness  revealed  to  His  children,  to 
glorify  God  and  enjoy  Him  forever;  a  God  keeping 
covenant  and  mercy,  that  all  people  of  the  earth  may 
fear  ///j??.— Compare  I  Kings  viii.  39-43.  This  cov- 
enant-requisition, the  beneficent  Father  hath  given, 
not  imposed,  nor  exacted,  but  bestowed  on  man  as 
the  most  blessed  of  all  possible  gifts,  the  poAver  and 
privilege  of  doing  good  now  on  earth,  and  so  enjoying 
the  good  of  all  his  labor  forever.  I  know  that  there 
is  no  profit  in  workmg  but  this.     And  this  is  God's 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  igi 

gracious  and  merciful  discipline  for  man,  that  eveiy 
man  should  enjoy  the  good  of  all  his  labor.  This  is 
the  gift  of  God. 

This  is  the  very  gospel  of  God  in  Deuteronomy 
and  Ecclesiastes;  the  gift  of  God  ui  Christ,  the  loving 
and  blessed  yoke  of  His  mercy  upon  men.  Take  ]\Iy 
yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  ]\Ie,  and  enter  and  pos- 
sess the  heaven  on  earth  of  working  for  God  and 
man  by  love.  There  is  nothing  better  than  that  a 
man  should  thus  rejoice  in  his  own  works.  It  is  his 
l^ortion,  if  he  will  receive  it,  in  faith  and  love.  And 
God  answereth  him  in  the  joy  of  his  heaH,  with  the 
peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  undei'standing.  "It 
is  your  life,"  said  Moses,  "O  people  saved  by  the 
Lord,  to  walk  in  aU  His  ways,  and  to  love  Him." 
"The  just  shall  Hve  by  his  faith,"  said  Habakkuk; 
"Faith  which  worketh  by  love,  and  is  the  fulfilhng 
of  the  law,"  said  Paul  and  Peter  and  James  and 
John.  This  is  the  travail,  which  God  hath  given  to 
men,  to  be  exercised  thereby.  Tliis  announcement 
clears  up  a  thousand  difficulties,  povu-ing  upon  them 
the  light  of  God's  love,  and  revealing  the  gloiy,  even 
as  i:»olarized  light  discloses  the  internal  magiiificence, 
the  stnic-tural  mystery  and  beauty  of  crystalhzation. 

And  the  whole  book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  a  calcula- 
tion for  the  settlement  of  mortal  accounts  for  noth- 
ing less  than  Eteniity,  and  a  judgment  there.     You 


ig2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

might  stumble  tlii'ough  the  book  in  deej)  perplexity; 
but  when,  at  the  close,  you  turn  the  great  conclu- 
sion, as  a  calcium  or  druramond  light,  or  flash  of 
lightning,  back  over  the  whole,  it  is  at  once  plain 
and  grand,  gloomy  and  glorious.  It  is  because  eter- 
nal life,  nothing  less,  depends,  that  these  books  of 
profit  and  loss,  outcries  for  light,  quagmires,  strug- 
gles, paradoxes,  parables,  sphinxes,  Sittings  of  gigan- 
tic formless  images  of  conflict  to  and  fro,  are  given; 
it  is  because  eternal  life,  nothing  less,  depends. 

God  alone,  who  could  thus  say.  All  souh  are  Mine, 
has  the  power  and  right,  the  benevolence  and  wis- 
dom, to  iu struct  lis  as  immortal  beings,  created  with 
eternal  resj^onsibilities  towards  Him.  In  His  light, 
vxdking  in  it,  we  see  and  know  love  and  light  as  His 
whole  nature,  and  how  to  avail  ourselves  of  these  at- 
tributes. For  in  Christ  (without  whom  there  is  no 
Book  of  Life,  nor  Word  of  God,  either  Old  or  New) 
it  is  love  and  light  wTestling,  all  the  way,  with  man's 
sinfulness,  unbelief,  and  darkness.  "Thou  hast  de- 
stroyed th}scli,  but  in  Me  is  thy  help."  That  is  the 
hidorij;  and  God  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto 
Himself,  and  calling  to  mankind,  "Ketarn  unto  Me, 
and  be  ye  reconciled  to  God,  for  I  have  redeemed 
THEE "  (not  that  thou  mai/d  hn  redcrmed),  is  the  only 
solution  of  its  continued,  unfathomable  mysteries.  I 
have  found  a  Ransom  for  thee. 


Faith,  DouhL  and  Evidence.         igj 

"By  anguish  which  made  pale  the  sun, 
I  hear  Him  charge  Ilis  saints  that  nono 
Among  His  creatures  anywhere 
Blaspheme  against  Him  with  despair, 
However  darkly  days  go  on. 

"I  knock  and  cry,  Undone,  undone! 
Is  there  no  help,  no  comfort,  none? 
No  gleaning  in  the  wide  wheat  plains, 
Where  others  drive  their  loaded  wains  ? 
My  vacant  days  go  on,  go  on!" 

"Why  sayest  Chou  this,  O  Israel,  my  way  is  hid 
from  the  Lord,  and  my  judgment  is  passed  over 
fi'om  my  God  ?  Hast  thou  not  known,  hast  thou  not 
heard,  that  the  EvERL.vsTiNa  God,  the  Lord,  the  Cre- 
ator of  the  ends  of  the  earth  fainteth  not,  neither  is 
weary?"  EcerlasUng;  and  therefore,  trusting  in  Him, 
thou  and  thy  way,  thy  blessedness,  everlasting  also. 

"This  faithful  and  unchanging  God 
Lays  the  foundation  of  our  hope 
In  oaths  and  promises  and  blood," 

Constant  to  His  covenant  of  eternal  mercy  for  all 
soids  thai  trust  in  Hint  and  seek  forgiveness  fi-om  Him. 
But  by  the  same  necessity,  the  sinful  soul  that  wUl 
not  change  its  own  character,  when  invited,  bani,^ies 
itiic'f  forever,  not  by  God's  edict,  but  against  God's 


/^-/         Faith,  Doubt.,  and  Evidence. 

promise,  from  God's  pi'esence,  in  which  alone  is  the 
fountain  of  life  and  the  possibility  of  blessednesa 

Everlasting,  and  therefore  Butler,  at  the  close  of 
his  Analogy  said,  as  his  warning-  to  an  age  of  scoffers, 
"  If  men  can  go  on  to  vilif}^  or  disregard  Christianity, 
which  is  to  talk  and  act  as  if  they  had  a  demonstra- 
tion of  its  falsehood,  there  is  no  reason  to  think  they 
would  alter  their  behavior  to  any  purjjose,  though 
there  were  a  demonstration  of  its  truth."  Everlast- 
ing; and  in  the  poetiy  of  Cowper  (of  which  Frank- 
lin was  so  hearty  an  admirer)  as  well  as  the  logic 
of  Butler,  millions  of  earnest  tliinkers  and  enquu'ers 
have  i-ead  the  answer  of  Eternal  Truth  for  a  doubt- 
ing conscience. 

"Man,  on  the  dubious  waves  of  EiTor  tossed, 
His  sliip  half-toiiudered,  aud  his  compass  lost. 
Sees,  far  as  huunm  optics  may  command, 
A  sleeping  fog,  and  fancies  it  dry  land; 
Spreads  all  his  canvas,  every  sinew  plies; 
Piints  for  it,  aims  at  it,  enters  it,  aud  dies ! 
Then  farewell  all  self-satisfying  schemes, 
His  well-built  sj'stems,  philosophic  dreams; 
Deceitful  views  of  fnture  bliss,  farewell ! 
He  reads  his  sentence  at  the  flames  of  helL 

"Hard  lot  of  man — to  toil  for  the  reward 
Of  virtue,  aud  yet  lose  It  ?    "WTierefore  hard  ? 
He  that  would  win  the  race  must  guide  bis  horse 
Obedient  to  the  customs  of  the  course; 


Faith,  Dottbty  and  Evidence.         ig^ 

Else,  though  unequalled  to  the  goal  he  flies, 
A  meaner  than  himself  shall  gain  the  prize. 
Grace  leads  the  right  way;  if  you  choose  the  wrong, 
Take  it, — and  perish, — but  restrain  your  tongue. 
Charge  not,  with  light  sufficient,  and  left  free, 
Your  wilful  suicide  on  God's  decree." 

"We  wander  up  and  down  the  Scrijitures,  and  we 
stumble  everj-where  ui^on  the  footsteps,  the  path- 
ways, and  the  thoughts  of  men  as  to  what  they  are 
living  for  and  whither  they  are  going.  The  book 
of  Job  is  a  chart  of  men's  wanderings  and  crossings, 
questionings  and  disputations;  great  thinkers,  lost 
sometimes,  and  striving  for  indications  of  the  way 
out;  great  positivists,  doubters,  affirmers,  despairers, 
hopers;  but  the  cud,  God  and  Eternity;  no  doubt 
of  those  two  realities.  And  places  where  the  light  is 
so  strong  and  illuminating  for  all  mankind,  that  the 
whole  book  is  transfigured,  and  the  wilderness,  and 
darkest  labp-iuths  are  explored  as  at  noonday. 

And  the  book  of  Psalms;  what  a  throng  of  char- 
acters and  opinions  wandering  there;  sometimes  as 
on  the  shores  of  Acheron,  sometimes  in  the  fields  and 
by  the  streams  of  Paradise.  But  all,  even  tlirough 
sin  and  death  and  misery  and  darkness,  or  in  great 
power  and  pride  of  uubehef  and  sensual  enjoyment, 
all  tending  jjlainly  to  the  same  Eternity  and  final 
settlement  of  accounts. 


ig6        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


Here  is  a  traveller  crying  out,  Unless  Thy  law 
had  been  my  delight,  I  had  then  perished  in  mine 
aiBiction.  What  does  he  mean?  For  death  is  the 
one  certainty  that  all  acknowledge  and  none  can  es- 
cape. But  he  has  escaped.  The  Lawgiver  is  his 
Friend  and  Father.  He  certainly  was  not  a  mere  ma- 
terialist. He  did  not  take  the  Law  of  God  as  a  guide 
for  this  world  merely,  nor  for  any  thing  that  it  prom- 
ised in  this  world.  This  man  must  perish,  anyway, 
as  to  this  world;  he  must  die;  all  must  die.  But  in 
the  midst  of  affliction,  the  "Word  of  God  kept  his  soul 
in  confidence  of  a  better  world,  and  he  was  going 
to  an  eternal  refuge  and  rest  in  God. 


XXVII. 


FAITH   IN   GOD  OR  MAN,   ONE  OR  THE  OTHER— 
WHICH   IS  MOST   REASONABLE? 

This  is  the  conflict;  Materialism  against  Immortal- 
ity; Sense  and  Time  against  Faith  and  Eternity.  And 
it  is  the  see-sawing  between  these  ideas,  as  planks 
or  walking-beams,  that  governs,  or  carries  into  prod- 
uct the  machineiy  of  all  the  active  forces  in  our 
world.  The  conflict  itself  proves  the  tremendous 
reality  of  the  force.  But  what  a  concentration  and 
power   of   absurdity   in   the    scepticism    that    afiirms 


Fa i til,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  ic^y 


that  there  is  no  such  force  iu  reality!  That  all  the 
buc;iness  of. the  world,  all  the  activity  of  its  intel- 
lects, all  its  machinery  of  motives  and  motion,  of 
character  and  conduct,  are  carried  by  a  faith,  that 
has  no  actual  correlative  or  cause,  but  is  mere  su- 
perstition ! 

God's  disclosures  of  His  own  being,  and  of  the 
soul's  immortahty,  go  together,  and  can  not  be  sep- 
arated; but  whatever  error  veils  or  distorts  the  one, 
does  the  same  to  the  other.  And  whatever  ministry 
of  providence  or  grace  brightens  the  one,  brightens 
the  other.  Habits  of  sin  bury  both  as  in  a  sepulchre, 
and  shut  down  the  lid  over  whole  nations.  Then 
must  come  the  Lord  of  glory  fi'om  heaven,  bringing 
life  and  immortality  to  light. 

God's  revelation  of  Himself /ro>?i  eternity,  as  car- 
ing for  sinful  man  lo  eternity,  is  a  greater  wonder 
than  any  material  prodigy  that  can  be  imagined; 
a  greater  miracle  than  all  others;  indeed,  the  ground- 
work of  all.  But  a  greater  iinpossibility  would  be 
that  of  His  giving  no  revelation,  or  one  not  infallible, 
or  permitting  a  forgery  by  the  devil  to  govern  all 
ages. 

Consider  the  wonderful  form  of  the  oath,  as  (he 
Lord  licelh,  and  as  thy  soul  lia'th,  and  the  process 
of  belief  and  confident  knowledge,  by  which  the  two 
asseverations  are  bound  in  one;  God's  eternity,  man's 


igS         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

immortality.  As  the  Lord  livetb,  came  first;  as  thy 
soul  livethj  next;  the  dei^endeuce  of  the  second  on 
the  first,  forever;  the  Lord,  our  dwelliug-place  iu 
aU  generations.  At  length  the  one  consciousness  in- 
terwoven with  and  interj)enetrated  by  the  other,  as 
an  element  of  daily  life,  the  practical  magnetism,  warn- 
ing, guiding,  iiupelliug,  the  heart  and  conduct,  along 
with  the  consciousness,  Thou  God  seest  me  ! 

It  became  at  length  the  common  property  and 
use  both  of  jDi'ophets  and  people;  an  appeal  on  the 
most  solemn  occasions  of  life  and  death.  See  for 
this  the  adjuration  of  the  jDrophet  Elisha  to  Elijah, 
just  before  the  translation  of  the  latter,  "As  the 
Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  wUl  not  leave 
thee !  "  And  then  see  the  same,  out  of  the  anguish 
of  the  heart  of  the  Shumanite  woman,  appealing  to 
Elisha.  What  a  divine  illumination!  What  a  proof 
of  divine  light  reaching  the  depths  of  all  hearts  that 
ever  waited  in  faith  on  the  word  of  the  living  God ! 
What  a  fore-shining  of  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  the  Life,  and  who  said,  "Because  I  live,  ye 
shall  live  also." 

Consider  also  the  remarkable  saying  of  Abigail 
to  David,  "  The  soul  of  my  Lord  shall  be  bound  in 
the  bundle  of  life  with  the  Lord  thy  God.  As  the 
Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  seeing  the  L;)rd 
hath   withholden   thee   from   blood."     For    centurijs 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidciicc.         icji^ 


we  see  this  form  of  devoutest  and  most  solemn  ad- 
jui'ation  among  all  classes.  Now  this  intercommun- 
ion of  God's  eternity  arid  man's  immortality,  and 
the  known  responsibility  accordingly,  are  nothing 
less  than  a  mu'acle  of  divine  light. 

Divine  Revelation  is  the  history  of  a  divinely  in- 
structed manhood  searching  after  God,  and  a  rebel- 
lious darkened  unbelieving  manhood  denying  him. 
Only  in  the  process  of  this  conflict,  and  out  of  it, 
is  created  and  demonstrated  the  literature  of  the 
Bible.  It  would  be  more  impossible  to  constnict 
the  Pentateuch  or  create  the  Psalms  of  David,  with- 
out this  conflict  between  God  and  man,  truth  and 
falsehood,  eternal  love  and  hatred,  or  out  of  minds 
and  hearts  not  acquainted  with  it,  or  that  did  not 
believe  and  know  man's  immortality  and  eternal  re- 
sjDonsibility  to  God,  than  it  would  to  make  nourish- 
ing bread  out  of  the  mummies  of  Egyptian  catacombs. 

But  the  knowledge  and  the  working  of  these  ele- 
ments in  their  infinite  reality,  consequences,  causal 
forces,  known  only  to  God,  could  be  made  known  to 
man  only  by  divine  communication. 

Man  could  neither  testify  nor  imagine  his  own  cre- 
ation in  the  image  of  God,  nor  his  own  fall,  nor  God's 
intervention  to  save  him,  or  raise  him  up,  nor  the 
promise  through  the  seed  of  the  woman,  nor  the  es- 
tablished institutes  and  laws  of  his  redemption.     But 


200        Fa  ilk,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


the  facts  and  Gods  interpretation  of  them  going  to- 
gether, man's  fall  and  hereditary  sinfulness  and  re- 
sponsibiht}',  and  God's  interposing  mercy  and  disci- 
plinary providence  with  the  race,  both  demonstrate 
and  are  demonstrated  by  the  whole  following  his- 
tory. Man  may  trace  the  record,  as  he  can  trace 
the  river  Amazon  to  its  springs  and  mountains;  but 
could  no  more  invent  it  than  he  could  create  the 
mountains  and  the  river,  or  the  ocean  into  which  its 
waters  pour.  God  Himself  foreordains  and  predicts 
the  history  hij  the  very  fird  i^romUe  of  redemption;  and 
then  follow  the  processes  of  fulfilment  in  and  ujdoii 
mankind;  the  mai'ch  of  empii'es  and  races,  Jew  and 
Gentile,  made  subservient  to  God's  infinite  work  for 
eternity,  the  steps  of  which  God  alone  coidd  reveal 
and  infaUibly  record. 

The  guUt,  ruin  and  misery  of  man,  incui'able,  uni- 
versal, the  whole  creation  wailing  and  travailing  in 
bondage,  are  the  oxe  demonstration  of  all  ages  and 
nations.  The  whole  development  of  thought  and  rea- 
son, the  whole  dissection  and  judgment  of  man's  char- 
acter, with  the  foresight  of  the  conduct  and  conse- 
quences from  it,  and  the  lajong  bai'e  of  causes  and 
results,  are  God's  history  of  His  own  work  with  and 
upon  man  as  an  immortal  being.  The  ^vickedness 
and  immortality  of  man  are  the  articulations  with 
which  the  merciful  interventions  of  God,  b}-  revela- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  201 

tions,  mii-acles,  warning  and  redeeming  truths,  are 
bound  together.  Growths  and  conclusions,  traced 
back  to  Genesis  are  as  demonstrable  morally  and 
therefore  absolutely  out  of  that  book,  as  the  forty- 
seventh  proposition  of  Euchd  out  of  the  preced- 
ing propositions  and  primal  axioms,  geometrically. 
There  could  no  more  be  this  history  of  grace  and 
faith  and  prayer  without  God,  than  there  could  be 
God's  universe  without  a  Creator  or  geometry  with- 
out a  mmd.  If  the  history  were  not  infinitely  true, 
it  would  be  supernatural  lying;  more  unnatural  and 
impossible  for  science,  reason  or  imagination  to  con- 
ceive and  account  foi',  as  a  lie,  than  to  believe,  as  a 
divine  revelation.  Given,  the  depra^dty  of  man  and 
the  mercy  of  God,  mii-acles  are  as  natiu-al,  necessary 
and  supernatural  as  God's  own  love. 

Now  there  never  has  been  on  earth  a  reUgion  of 
love  that  did  not  ground  itself  in  the  immortality 
of  man;  never  a  religion  outride  the  Bible  that  taught 
love  to  the  gods,  or  presented  them  with  qualities 
that  entitled  them  to  love,  or  attracted  love,  or  called 
for  love ;  never  the  revelation  of  gods  or  a  God  that- 
aA-ed  for  love,  or  made  love  a  necessary  condition 
of  acceptance  and  of  hapiiiness.  God  alone  does 
this,  and  does  it  on  the  ground  that  He  lives  for- 
ever; His  eternity  is  the  argument.  But  of  what 
consequence  is  the  eternity  of  God,  or  how  c.xn  that 


202         FaitJi,  Doitht,  and  Evidence. 

"be  an  argument  with  any  man  who  is  not  aware  of 
the  immortality  of  his  own  being,  any  one  who  be- 
lieves that  he  himself  is  to  end  his  spu'itual  existence 
at  the  dissolution  of  his  animal  life  ? 

"  Set  3'our  hearts  unto  aU  the  v/ords  of  this  law; 
for  it  is  not  a  vain  thing  for  you,  because  it  is  tour 
LIFE,  TO  LOVE  THE  LoRD  THY  GoD,  and  to  keep  His 
commandments  that  thou  mayst  live.  I  have  set  be- 
fore you  life  and  death,  blessing  and  cursing;  there- 
fore choose  life,  that  both  thou  and  thy  seed  may 
Hve,  that  thou  mayst  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  foii  He 
IS  THY  life,  and  the  length  of  thy  days."  It  is  demon- 
strated by  Moses  and  Christ  that  genuine  faith  in 
God  and  faith  in  God's  Word  are  one  and  the  same 
thing,  and  that  the  one  can  not  exist  without  the 
other. 

The  idea  of  faith  in  God  without  a  revealed  j)rom- 
ise  is  an  imagination.  We  do  not  know  that  there 
ever  was  such  a  reality;  there  is  never  an  instance 
of  it  recorded  or  suj^posed  in  the  Scriptures.  It 
seems  imi^ossible  for  any  sinfid  creature.  All  the 
piety  of  Avhich  any  account  is  given  in  the  Word  of 
God,  all  the  elements  belonging  to  faith,  are  of  God's 
jn-oduction  in  the  soul,  b}'  drawing  it  to  Himself  with 
words  of  forgiving  love  and  mercy.  A  revealed 
promise  has  made  all  the  distinction  between  us 
and  fallen  angels.     How  could  it  ever  be  otherwise? 


Faith y  Doitbt,  and  Evidence.         20 j 

So  that  the  sentence,  with  which  even  Dr.  Perowne 
closed  one  of  his  admirable  Hulsean  Lectures,  con- 
veys a  supposition  inconsistent  with  the  truth  and 
logic  of  the  divine  narrative,  when  he  says  that 
"never  can  tliere  be  a  sublimer  heroism  of  faith 
than  that  which,  claiming  no  promUe  of  falure  recom- 
jyense,  goes  down  into  the  mystery  of  darkness,  lean- 
ing onl}'  upon  God."  There  is  no  such  mystery,  for 
a  believer  m  God's  "Word  to  enter  into;  for  "in  His 
hght  we  see  hght,"  and  by  that  light  faith  walks. 
And  "  the  recompense  of  the  reward "  promised  by 
God  beyond  the  grave  is  that  to  which,  according  to 
the  divine  record,  the  behevers  and  heroes  of  faith, 
from  Abel  downward,  always  had  respect.  For  souls 
whose  customary  adjuration  was  this,  "  As  sure  as 
God  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  Hveth,"  there  could  be 
no  such  thing  possible  as  a  mere  secular  horizon. 

Whenever  in  these  Psalms  a  soul  is  found  crying 
out  after  God,  and  saying,  "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven 
but  Thee,  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire 
besides  Thee,"  it  is  certain  that  such  a  soul  knows 
a  difference  between  earth  and  heaven,  knows  that 
there  is  a  heaven,  and  that  it  is  the  dwelling-place 
of  God.  And  this  man's  exiisrience  and  the  record 
of  it  is  for  aU  souls,  that  ever  find  themselves  affected 
in  like  manner,  with  any  such  yearnings;  an  assur- 
ance from  God,  as  good  for  them  as  for  the  melodi- 


20^        Faith,  Do?ibi,  and  Evidence. 


ous  soul  that  has  gone  bsfore  them,  that  "  Thou  wilt 
guide  me  by  Thy  couusel,  and  afterwards  receive  me 
to  glory." 

But  a  thousand  such  seekers  after  God  could  never 
create  a  Saviour. 

The  united  heads  and  hearts  of  a  hundred  thou- 
sand Platos  could  not  constitute  a  little  finger  of  the 
wisdom  and  mercy  of  Jesus  Chiist,  though  they 
might  go  far  to  constitute  a  prophetic  assurance 
that  God  woidd  send  such  a  Savioiu",  that  He  must 
be  on  His  way,  and  would  certainly,  in  His  own 
time,  be  manifested  from  heaven. 

Take  for  example  such  expressions  as  those  in  the 
16th,  17th,  49th,  61st,  and  73d  Psalms,  "I  have  set 
the  Lord  always  before  me.  Thou  wilt  show  me  the 
jjath  of  hfe;  at  Thy  right  hand,  are  pleasui'es  for  ever- 
more." Instead  of  a  portion  in  this  life,  "I  will  be- 
hold Thy  face  in  righteousness.  I  shall  be  satisfied 
when  I  awake  with  Thy  hkeness."  "  God  will  redeem 
my  soul  from  the  power  of  the  grave,  for  He  will  re- 
ceive me."  "  I  am  continually  with  Thee.  Thou  shalt 
guide  me  Avith  Thy  counsel,  and  afterwards  receive 
me  to  glory.  "Whom  have  I  in  heaven  but  Thee,  and 
there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  besides  Thee. 
]My  flesh  and  my  heart  f  xileth,  but  God  is  the  strength 
of  my  heart  and  \n\  portion  forcvor."  Sot  along  with 
theso  passages  the   four  groat  watch-w :)rds  of  Job's 


Fa  ilk.  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         20^ 


piety;  those  light-bouses  of  jjatience,  faith,  submis- 
sion, humiHty,  trust  and  love,  enough  for  the  en- 
couragement, example  and  security  of  the  tempted 
soul  through  all  hurricanes  in  all  ages.  They  were 
guides  for  a  celestial  life  for  pagans,  for  the  heathen, 
as  Avell  as  for  the  Israelites,  proving  the  existence  of 
true  piety  outside  of  that  appointed  family  and  race 
to  whom  the  oracles  of  God  were  entrusted  for  safe- 
keeinng  for  aU  mankind. 

"The  Lord  gave,  the  Lord  hath  taken  away;  blessed 
be  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "Though  He  slay  me,  yet 
will  I  trust  in  Him." 

"  I  have  esteemed  the  words  of  His  mouth  more 
than  my  necessary  food."  "O  that  my  words  were 
now  written  in  a  book.  For  I  know  that  my  lle- 
deemer  liveth,  and  though  Avorms  destroy  this  bod}', 
yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 

Were  these  the  flashes  of  an  earthly  sagacity  or  a 
worldly  hope,  or  di-eams  of  a  soul  that  could  dream 
of  Iwinrj  a  soul  only  by  taking  opium  ?  Were  these 
shafts  of  intensest  lightning  from  eternit}^  and  heaven 
the  contrivance  of  the  priests  of  an  Egyptian  or  leg- 
endaiy  science  ?  You  might  easier  believe  that  Mont 
Blanc  was  built  by  potato-beetles,  or  the  Eddystone 
light-house  raised  and  lighted  by  lob.stcrs  and  jelly- 
fishes.  The  meaning  of  such  words  is  as  undeniable 
as  that  of  the  light  that  lighteth  every  man  tliat  com- 


2o6         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

etli  into  the  world.  It  never  was  withheld  or  hidden 
fi'om  any  age. 

"Where,  ever  or  else,  was  there  given  a  revelation  of 
God's  power,  that  He  may  be  loved,  and  of  His  mercy 
that  He  may  be  feared,  and  both,  that  men  might 
trust  in  God's  mercy  because  thrij  have  sinned  against 
Him.  "  There  is  forgiveness  with  Thee  that  Thon 
mayest  be  feared.  For  Thy  name's  sake,  j^ardon  mine 
iniquity /o?-  it,  is  great."  "He  looketh  uj)ou  all  man- 
kind, and  if  any  say  I  have  sinned,  He  will  deliver  his 
soul  from  going  into  the  pit,  and  his  life  shall  see  the 
light,  and  be  lightened  with  the  light  of  the  living." 

The  literature  of  the  whole  world  from  Adam  to 
Christ  can  show  no  such  revelation  of  truth  concern- 
ing God  our  Father  and  Friend  as  the  words  of  the 
young  prophet  Eliliu  in  the  33d  and  3Gth  chapters 
of  the  book  of  Job.  The  insj^iration  of  the  Ahnighty 
is  there. 

But,  say  the  critics,  it  is  too  good,  too  advanced, 
and  perfect  for  such  an  antique  period.  Such  knowl- 
edge, say  the  learned  commentators,  concerning  God's 
attributes  and  providences  could  not  have  existed  at 
so  early  an  age.  How  then  could  it  be  found  in 
minds  hke  Abraham's  and  Moses'  ?  But  fi-om  whom 
at  any  age  could  it  have  come  at  all?  And  having 
come,  we  have  a  right  to  read  in  it  all  that  a  trusting 
and  lovin":  heart  can  find.     We  are  not  shut   uv  to 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  20^ 

the  reading  of  the  Bible  through  the  lenses  of  super- 
stition and  fear.  On  the  contrary,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  Comforter  from  Christ,  is  our  Interpreter,  both 
of  the  Law,  and  of  God's  promises  and  providences. 
God's  showings  unto  Moses,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Priesthood,  and  m  the  settlement  of  its  fixtures 
and  meanings,  were  all  in  and  around  this  one  central 
orb,  the  forgiveness  of  sin.  That  once  revealed  and 
promised,  there  is  no  such  thing  afterwards  as  dark- 
ness. "  Pardon  our  iniquity  and  our  sin,  and  lalce  us 
for  Thine  inheritance."  The  forgiveness  and  acceptance 
with  God  were  the  only  blessing  worth  revealing,  worth 
asking,  worth  providing  for.  So  utterly  and  anni- 
hilatingiy  was  every  tiling  else  reduced  to  noth- 
ingness, without  this,  that  Moses  himself  prayed,  "If 
Thou  wilt  j'jardon,  all  is  wxll,  for  we  are  Thine;  but 
if  not,  life  is  not  worth  having,  and  there  can  be  no 
good.  If  Thou  wilt  not  pardon  Thy  people,  blot  me 
also  out  of  Th}'  book."  Forgiveness  was  not  sought 
for  the  purchase  of  present  blessings,  or  of  favor  in 
this  world,  or  life  here  and  its  enjoyments,  but  for 
itself,  for  the  life  and  love  of  God,  the  removal  of 
sin,  and  a  partaking  of  God's  hoHness,  God's  eternal 
life.  Take  us  for  Thine  inheritance!  "What  could 
be  in  any  sense  God's  inheritance,  if  not  for  immor- 
tality, for  eternity.  God's,  as  long  as  God  Himself 
liveth? 


2oS         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

But  the   vast,   profound   eternal  meaning   of   this 
phrase  is  a  multitudinous  divine  radiancy  into  which 
we  do  not  and  can  not  enter,  tUl  we  come  to  the  rec- 
ord of  Paul's  prayers,  which  convey  us  by  tlie  Holv 
Sj^irit  so  far  into  the  eternal  world.     It  was  in  fact  a 
veiled  i^ropliecy  of  Moses,  fulfilled  only  in  Christ's  res- 
lUTection,  ascension,  and  eternal  glory,  with  believers 
in  Him  the  new  created  partakers  of  that  glory  in  the 
liheness  of  Christ,  according  to  the  passages  in  Ephe- 
sians  i.  11,  18,  and  iii.  19,  and  Philippians  iii.  21,  and 
Col.  i.  12,  and  iii.  21,  and  Acts  xxvi.  18,  and  xx.  32, 
and  I  Peter  i.  3,  4,  and  II  i.  4,  compared  with  Heb. 
ix.  15,   and  Romans  viii.  18,  19,  29,  30,  and  I  John 
iii.  2.     The  comparative  study  of  these  passages  re- 
veals something  of  "  the  exceeding  and  eternal  weight 
of  glory  "  comjDrehended  in  the  phrase  (Rom.  viii.  17), 
"  children  of  God,  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  icifh 
Chri.<f,  if  so  be  that  we  suffer  with  Him,  thai  we  may 
he  also  (jlorijled  tof/elJier."     Here,  from  Moses  to  Paul, 
are  God  taking  us  for  His  inheritance  in  Christ,  Christ 
possessing  us  as  "  His  inheritance  in  the  saints,"  and 
we  made  partakers  and  inheritors  of  the  same  divine 
nature  in  and  through  Christ's  sufferings  and  glory. 
When  Christ,  in  the  walk  to  Emmaus,  began  at  Moses, 
it  is  no  presumption  to  supjjose  that  even  as  in  these 
passages  we  learn  it,  the  interceding  and  prophetic 
prayer  of  Moses  was  exj)ounded  by  Him. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2og 


All  our  duties  to  Gorl  our  Saviour  are  revealed  to 
as  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  knowledge  of  sin  against 
God,  and  its  eternal  consequences,  fi-om  which  Christ 
came  to  deliver  us.  Both  are  measured  by  the  attri- 
butes of  God,  which  we  begin  to  understand  aright 
only  in  Christ,  a.nd  in  His  sufferings  and  death,  to 
save  men  from  everlasting  death.  All  our  knowledge 
of  God  would  be  nothing,  without  the  knowledge  of 
His  holiness  and  eternity.  None  of  our  responsibil- 
ities to  Him,  none  of  our  sins  against  Hun,  can  be 
measured  without  reference  to  that,  "Against  Thee, 
Thee  only,  have  I  sinned."  The  importance  of  every 
thing  mortal  is  its  relation  to  immortality.  Some  of 
the  thoughts  even  of  the  Emi^eror  Marcus  Aurehus 
might  in  this  thing  teach  Christian  teachers.  "For 
neither,"  said  he,  "wilt  thou  do  any  thing  well,  which 
pertains  to  man,  nor  the  contrar}',  without  at  the 
same  time  having  reference  to  things  divine."  And 
what  a  rebuke  to  those  who  maintain  that  it  is  es- 
sential to  the  perfection  of  statesmanshiji  to  sej^arate 
the  State  from  things  divine.  This  is  a  tenet  of  mod- 
ern secularisiu,  and  Christian  citizens  are  advised  to 
believe  it,  and  as  jDoHticians  to  Hve  by  it.  Let  them 
prosper  by  it,  if  they  can;  but  of  this  we  are  sure, 
that  nothing  pertaining  to  man  will  ever  be  done 
well,  Avithout  at  the  same  time  having  reference  to 
God  supremely,  and  in  all  things. 


210         FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

There  are  many  religions  on  earth,  but  only  one 
redemption,  and  one  true  definition  of  sin,  as  always 
committed  against  God,  whatever  it  be,  either  in  j^ur- 
pose  or  effect.  And  as  to  its  consequences,  sin,  when 
it  is  finished,  bringeth  forth  death.  "\Mien  is  it  fin- 
ished? Never  in  this  world;  not  in  the  dying  of  the 
body;  but  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die.  And 
ye  shall  die  in  your  sius,  our  Lord  said,  if  ye  beUeve 
not  in  3Ie;  but  he  that  beheveth  in  Me  shall  never 
die.  Chi'ist  never  concealed  or  abated  the  end,  the 
I'esult  of  human  behef  and  action,  but  always  taught 
men  to  consider  the  eternjil  consequences,  and  to  act 
accordingly.  To  exclude  the  necessary  effect  of  an 
action,  it  has  been  well  remarked,  is  to  take  away 
all  meaning  from  the  word  action; — in  fact  to  strike 
duty  with  blindness. 

Faith  in  God  and  an  eternal  world  is  as  necessary 
to  a  true  religious  experience  as  the  correlation  of 
the  eye  and  the  daylight  for  seeing,  or  the  air  and 
the  lungs  for  breathing.  "To  them  of  old  Avas  the 
Gospel  preached,  as  well  as  to  us;  but  the  word 
preached  did  not  profit  some  of  them,  not  being 
mixed  ivith  faith  in  them  that  heard  it.''  They  did 
not  look  to  (lie  end,  because  their  hearts  were  blinded; 
and  while  thus  blinded,  and  permitting  themselves 
to  be  blinded,  they  could  not.  Not  because  there 
was  no  end  revealed,  but  the  fog  that  arose  out  of 


Faith,  Doubty  a?id  Evidence.         211 

their  own  hearts  enveloped  also  the  realities  that 
were  before  them.  They  escaped  from  those  reali- 
ties, as  the  cuttle  fish  fi'om  its  enemies  by  its  own 
ink,  "because  they  did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their 
knoidedrje,"  and  therefore  God  gave  them  over  to  a 
mind  void  of  judgment,  d^6Hii.iov  voOv;  being  vain  in 
their  imaginations,  their  foolish  heart  was  darkened, 
but  without  excuse. — Rom.  i.  20,  21. 


XXYIII. 


THE  ARGUMENT  FROM  ETERNITY  TO  THE  CERTAINTY 
OF  \  VERBAL  INSPII^\TION. 

There  are  not  wanting  manifest  analogies  in  regard 
to  the  reflection  and  growth  of  man's  organic  intuitions 
as  in  a  Uving  receptive  mirror,  from  the  image  of  God 
in  which  he  was  created.  This  intuition  of  eternity, 
this  firmament  of  light  and  duty,  part  of  the  law 
■written  on  men's  hearts,  would  have  remained  clear, 
but  for  sin.  "We  know  our  own  immortality,  not  be- 
cause we  see  it,  but  because  we  see  and  know  the 
reaUty  of  all  other  things  icorth  knowing,  by  it.  It  is 
the  idea,  the  medium,  invisible,  that  like  the  atmos- 
phere, shows  us  all  things  in  their  relation  to  God  and 
our.-<elces,  in  their  relative  impoi-tance.  We  do  laot 
see  the  atmosphere  in  a  landscape,   any  more  than 


212         FailJi,  Doubt y  and  Evidence. 

we  do  our  own  eyes;  it  is  the  one  tiling  that  we  do 
not  see;  but  we  see  all  things  through  that  invisible 
sj)ace  of  ether,  without  which  nothing  could  be  seen 
or  known;  not  even  light.  The  idea  of  our  immortal- 
ity is  the  one  thing  that  dignifies  all  our  knowledge, 
and  raises  us  above  the  brutes  to  a  known  relation 
with  the  attributes  and  eternity  of  God. 

A  quiet  lake,  clear,  still,  translucent,  how  beautiful 
in  itself,  how  suggestive  and  instructive  in  its  reflec- 
tion of  the  heavens  !  Stand  upon  the  bank  and  look 
down  into  it,  and  what  do  you  not  see?  The  re- 
verberations of  infinite  space  and  of  eternity  are  in  it, 
even  as  God  hath  set  eteknity  in  men's  hearts;  and 
if  you  could  look  down  into  t)ie-nx,  in  their  clear  orig- 
inal depths,  you  would  see  the  eternity  and  immor- 
tality deepest.  So,  the  aii'  itself,  and  its  power  of 
endless  jjerspective,  are  there  in  the  lake,  as  well  as 
the  moon  and  stars  in  a  clear  night,  or  the  trees  on 
th3  banks,  and  the  flowers  fringing  the  water. 

Thus  the  very  law  of  human  intelligence  from  the 
Creator  is  in  this  reverberation  of  Eternity,  and  the 
inseparable  connection  of  all  faculties,  reasonings, 
purposes,  passions,  actions,  with  it.  Thus,  the  theop- 
neustic  voices  from  God  to  man,  their  meanings  in 
the  Scriptures  of  Life,  their  combination  of  infinite 
sj^iritual  glory  and  solemnity,  with  mere  material  cir- 
cumstance, the  verdiu'e,  the  mountains,  meadows,  for- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2ij 

ests,  are  all  reflected  in  the  soul,  with  this  air  of  im- 
mortality, never  (cilhout  it.  If  you  say  this  is  not 
affirmed,  not  visible,  as  the  trees  are  in  the  lake, 
not  stereotyped  or  mirrored,  as  the  stars  are  in  the 
■watei',  and  therefore  not  there  at  all,  not  even  inti- 
mated, you  might  as  well  say  that  the  atmosphere 
is  not  reflected,  nor  the  reality  of  sj^ace,  in  the  lake, 
although  the  shadows  of  the  trees  are  hanging  in 
infinitude,  the  infinite  environment,  which  is  invisible, 
being  as  absolute  a  reality  as  the  branches  and  the 
quivering  verdure,  visible;  and  so  the  air  and  its 
unseen,  endless,  immeasurable  spaces,  and  measure- 
ments or  indications  of  relative  unfathomable  dis- 
tances are  there.  The  lake  picture  utters  all  this  to 
the  soul. 

The  lake  picture  is  a  reverberation  in  nature  of  im- 
measurable realities  in  the  attributes  of  God  the 
Creator.  Shall  there  be  no  such  reverberation  of 
Himself  in  the  souls  of  His  intelligent  creatures, 
that  they  may  know  Him  and  love  Him  as  their 
Father  forever?  For  what  then  do  the  heavens  de- 
clare the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  shadow 
forth  the  iUimitableness  of  His  habitation  in  Eternity  ? 
The  very  foundation  and  measure  of  our  idea  of  Eter- 
nity is  in  God ;  and  of  Eternal  Life,  a  life  in  and  with 
Him ;  and  of  Eternal  Death,  a  life  alienated  from  Him. 

The  words  olam  in  Hebrew  and  aionios  in  Greek, 


2 1 -J.         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

are  therefore  to  be  determined,  in  all  things  relating 
to  the  future  "vvorld,  and  men's  responsibilities  and 
rewards  there,  by  their  highed  meaning  in  God  and 
His  attributes.  As  in  a  cloudy  day  at  sea,  we  take 
the  sun,  the  lirst  glimjjse  we  have  of  him,  and  with 
our  quadrant  bring  him  to  the  horizon  and  then  and 
thus  calculate  and  know  our  reckoning,  oui-  position, 
though  before  all  was  uncertain;  so  with  our  use  of 
these  words,  in  gaining  one  sight  of  God;  we  bring 
them  down  to  our  latitude  and  longitude  in  the  eter- 
nities, bg  finding  God.  And  so,  there  are  texts,  sen- 
tences, whole  paragraphs  of  infinite  meaning,  xcilh 
those  words,  as  defined  by  ivhal  ice  know  of  God,  but  va- 
cant, unmeaning,  uncertain,  without  Him.  Deprive 
the  word  of  its  highest  meaning,  and  you  take  from  the 
whole  sentence  all  its  meaning.  Its  puri^ose  of  eternal 
warning  and  instruction,  its  light,  love,  mercy,  all  at 
once  gone,  its  usefvilness  for  immortality  as  crushed, 
as  when  the  use  of  a  comj^ass  or  chronometer  or  ba- 
rometer, is  nullified  by  setting  wood  or  worsted  or 
glue  or  colored  water  in  place  of  the  magnetic  needle, 
or  the  mainspring  and  the  mercury. 

The  words  for  sin  and  holiness  had  a  meaning  rel- 
ative to  God  and  His  attributes  and  eternal  govern- 
ment never  possessed  by  the  Greek  tongue  till  its 
baptism  in  the  Hebrew  insi)iration. 

The  word   for  redeemer  was   divine,   ineffable,   its 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.        21^ 


whole  meaning  never  to  be  fully  known,  till  Christ 
should  be  seen  npliftecl  on  the  cross,  and  dying  for 
man's  salvation.  Yet  God  was  pleased  to  derive  it 
from  the  long  succession  of  typical  instituted  rites 
and  customs  appointed  in  His  law  for  refuge  and  se- 
curity against  the  'nemesis  of  an  earthly  justice,  for 
deliverance  from  the  Avenger  of  Blood,  and  for  eter- 
nal projiitiation  at  the  Mercy  Seat.  So  the  word 
arose  from  the  measure  of  a  temporal  necessity  to 
be  the  computation  of  an  infinite  immeasurable  gift 
of  the  divine  mercy.  So  the  gi'eat  watchwords  of 
our  salvation  are  pure  words,  di-awn  throiigh  alem- 
bics of  human  experience,  as  silver  tried  in  a  furnace 
of  earth,  puritied  seven  times.  They  are  teaching  and 
reveaUng  words,  sometimes  Koihnoors,  mountains  of 
light,  angelic  schoolmasters  under  the  Divine  Spiiit, 
to  bring  us  to  Ckrist. 

If  a  man  would  learn  the  utmost  scientific  precision 
in  the  use  of  language  for  conveyance  both  of  physi- 
cal and  spiritual  truth,  Avhich  the  hmits  of  the  human 
mind  render  it  impossible  pei'fectly  to  reveal,  let  him 
study  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  Scriptures  in  their  com- 
merce of  thought  between  Time  and  Eternit}'.  Let 
him  study  Job  and  Isaiah  in  the  Old  Testament,  John 
and  Paul  in  the  New.  Let  him  weigh  every  word, 
every  sentiment,  every  verb,  adjective  and  infiection, 
and  observe  the  construction  of  those  open  wiudov.'3, 


2l6        Faith,  DouhL  and  Evidence. 

through  which  he  makes  companionship  of  infinite  ac- 
curacy and  infinite  comprehensiveness,  the  microscopic 
and  telescopic  forces  that  are  combined  in  those  lan- 
guages, for  the  report  of  God's  thoughts  for  man's 
guidance. 

As  an  heir  of  immortality  he  is  travelling  among 
the  infinites  of  ojiinion  and  result,  and  he  has  to 
take  his  measurements  of  certainty  and  exactness 
accordingly;  not  with  the  indefiniteness  of  science 
falsely  so  called,  concerning  the  "  silent  worship  of 
the  unknown  and  unknowable,"  or  the  evolutions  "of 
natural  force  from  a  practical  eternity."  He  can  not 
afford  such  looseness  among  unknown  depths.  He 
can  not  afford  to  try  those  mountain  passes  without 
a  guide.  If  materialism  were  true,  a  false  step  either 
way  would  be  of  no  consequence.  But  if  there  be  a 
spiritual  world,  and  an  eternal  inheritance  in  it,  in- 
separable from  the  soul,  according  to  Avrong  or  right 
opinion  and  character  in  this  world,  then  the  gift  of 
truth  now,  and  the  unerring  perception  of  it,  are  of 
infinite  importance. 

Archbishop  Trench  in  his  two  works  on  the  "  S}mo- 
nyms  of  the  New  Testament,"  and  on  "The  Authorized 
Version  and  its  proposed  Revision,"  so  full  of  pro- 
found and  suggestive  thought  on  the  inspiration  and 
interpretation  of  God's  Word,  says  in  the  latter  work, 
"The  more  deeply  we  are  persuaded  of  the  inspire- 


FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.       2iy 

tion  of  Holy  Scripture  the  more  intolerant  we  shall 
be  of  any  lets  and  hindrances  to  the  arriving  of  a  pex'- 
fect  understanding  of  that  which  the  mouth  of  God 
has  sj)oken."  And  in  the  former,  referring  to  He- 
brews V.  12,  the  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ, 
the  oracles  of  God,  rd  (jroixsToc  viji  apx^in  roav  Xoyioovj 
he  remarks  that  "a  patient  study  of  these  is  essen- 
tial to  any  secure  advances  in  Christian  theology; 
for  here,  as  everywhere  else,  disapj)ointment  awaits 
him,  who  thinks  to  jM^isess  the  whole,  without  Jird  2>os- 
i^essing  the  parts,  of  which  the  whole  is  composed." 
The  words  are  the  drotx^ut:,  the  rudimental  elements, 
the  letter,  inspired  by  the  Spirit.  For  thus  it  is  that 
God  hath  shined  in  our  hearts,  to  give  the  light  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Je- 
sus Christ.  God  shines,  and  the  words  mark  His 
sunbeams,  and  the  Spirit  is  in  them  and  with  them. 
The  words  are  the  gnomons  of  the  Divine  Dial,  that 
tell  by  their  lines  of  shadow  the  shining  of  the  Divine 
Mind. 

It  is  only  thus  through  imtiencc,  and  comfort  of  the 
Scriptures,  that  we  have  hojie  in  them,  and  life  in 
Christ  through  them.  But  if  we  torture  them,  if  we 
sot  a  press  gang  upon  them,  if  we  cast  them  into 
prison  on  false  accusations,  and  then  comjiel  them 
into  a  controversial  regiment  of  marines,  we  only 
eliminate  and  imprison  ourselves.     If  any  thing  on 


2i8        Faith.,  Doubi,  and  Evidence. 

earth  should  be  as  free  as  aii-,  it  is  God's  Word,  and 
its  interpretation,  in  reliance  on  His  own  free  Spirit, 
promvied  to  all  in  connection  ivith  the  inspired  letter,  in 
ansioer  to  ])rat/er.  The  things  written  for  us,  thou- 
sands of  jears  ago,  Avere  certainly  inspired  in  the 
writing,  in  the  language,  in  the  thoughts,  or  they 
cordd  not  have  been  for  us,  or  belonged  to  us,  or 
of  any  authority  for  us.  "  For,  ivliatsocver  thinrjs  loere 
ivritten  afore  time,  were  wTitten  for  oru*  learning,  that 
we,  thvongh  jMtience  and  comfort  of  the  Si-ripdurr^,  might 
have  hope."  And  so,  "Jesus  Chi-ist  was  a  minister 
for  the  truth  of  God,  to  confii'ni  the  promises  made  unto 
the  Fathers,  and  that  the  Gentles  may  glorify  God 
for  HLs  mercy." 

God  alone  linoweth  all  the  meanings  and  fulfil- 
ments of  His  own  eternally  abiding  Word;  Avhat  was 
meant  by  God,  not  what  men  may  conjecture  or 
translate,  accoi'ding  to  theii'  oa\ti  oj^iuion.  So,  when 
God  quotes  from  Himself,  as  in  the  New  Testament 
from  the  Old,  and  varies  the  language  of  the  quotation, 
the  eternal  Word  is  the  same;  the  vaiiation  hath 
in  it  no  shadow  of  turning  or  of  contradiction;  it  is 
but  the  same  light  on  another  face  of  the  diamond. 

Prof.  Stuart  gives  an  example  of  three  passages, 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  each  of  which  the 
same  quotation  fi'om  the  Old  Testament  is  given  in 
somewhat  different  words;  but  the  sen^  is  tike  same. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2ig 

and  he  adds,  "Z)e  minimis  non  curat  lex,  say  civilians, 
in  construing  human  laws;  and  the  maxim  applies 
as  well  to  the  manner  of  diction  in  the  Scriptures 
as  in  any  other  book." — On  Heb.  x.  IG.  Bat  to  the 
Scrijjtures  as  all  divine,  and  not  of  man's  creating; 
to  the  Scriptures  as  quoted  by  God-inspired  men. 

And  therefore,  applied  to  the  Scriptures  as  iu- 
spu'ed,  the  maxim  becomes,  De  minimis  cnraf,  Deus; 
for  God's  Spirit  chose  the  variations,  and  directed 
the  minds  that  applied  the  original  text  in  their 
own  quotations.  If  our  Lord  could  say,  "  The  hairs 
of  your  head  are  all  numbered,"  he  could  as  truly 
say,  The  words  which  ye  shall  spaak  for  Me  are  all 
numbered,  just  as  He  said,  "I  have  given  unto  them 
the  words  which  Thou  gavest  Me,"  and,  "It  is  not 
ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father  that 
spsaketh  in  you."  God  takes  as  much  care  of  the 
minutes  as  of  the  hours;  and  if  any  man  asks,  Doth 
God  take  care  for  oxen?  the  apostle  answers,  "For 
our  sakes,  no  doubt,  this  is  icriHen."  And  this  rea- 
soning of  Paul  (I  Cor.  ix.  9,  10)  is  one  of  the  strong 
incidental  proofs  of  a  plenary  inspiration,  exlcnding 
to  the  loorcU;  for  he  distinguishes  between  what  man 
saith  and  Avhat  God  saith,  and  declares  this  ques- 
tioned quotation  to  be  God's.  And  afterwards,  with 
the  same  authority  he  says,  'T/jc  things  that  I  urite 
unto  you  are  the  Commandments  of  the  Lord." 


220         Faii/i,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

But  Low  as  to  errors  tliat  may  creej?  in  by  time, 
by  manuscripts  lost  or  corrui^ted,  by  cojiyists,  or 
interpolators  of  sentences  or  words?  "Will  they  be 
permitted?  or  is  there  an  equal  a  priori  certainty  of 
their  being  prevented  or  forestalled  ?  We  should 
certainly  conclude  that  as  to  any  vital  error,  that 
might  destroy  the  divine  purj^ose  of  the  Book,  there 
is;  but  in  things  indifferent,  there  may  be  an  equally 
divine  carelessness.  Error  would  not  be  permitted 
in  a  divine  text,  where  souls  might  stumble  and 
fall  into  perdition  by  it.  A  man  conveying  a  cup 
of  cold  water  may  make  a  false  step,  and  spill  a 
portion;  but  he  can  not  alter  the  water.  Nor  does 
he  change  its  nature,  though  he  takes  it  in  an  earthen 
vessel.  The  poorest  language  on  earth  may  have  to 
be  used  for  the  translation;  but  a  translator,  desiring 
to  win  souls,  can  not  help  conveying  a  knowledge 
of  Jesus  and  His  dying  love,  sufficient  for  salvation. 
It  is  still  the  water  of  life,  no  mattei*  for  the  patched 
goat-skin  bottles. 

The  perfection  of  a  chronometer  does  not  require 
that  it  instruct  the  supercargo  to  what  cities  he 
must  carry  his  freights,  nor  how  he  should  load  his 
vessel,  nor  with  what  merchandize.  The  perfection 
of  a  chart  does  not  necessitate  information  as  to  a 
science  of  the  winds,  or  the  matliematics  of  astron- 
omy.    But  all  that  goes  into  the  idea  of  a  perfect 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         221 

timepiece  and  a  perfectly  safe  and  accurate  map, 
must  be  found  respectively,  m  these  artides.  They 
must  not  teach  errors  of  time  and  place,  since  either 
would  be  the  insurance  of  shipwrecks.  Even  so, 
the  Scriptures  muM  teach  eternal  infaUible  spirituaJ  frulh, 
though  they  do  not  requii'e  an  encyclopedia  of  science, 
but  only  an  eye  single  to  God's  will,  and  God's  prin- 
ciple of  righteousness,  through  faith  in  Christ,  through 
Christ,  dwelling  in  the  heart  by  faith.  This  is  the 
kingdom  of  God,  both  within  the  Scriptures,  and 
within  the  soul.  And  every  man,  coming  to  Christ, 
hath  both. 


XXIX. 

SETTLEMENT  OF  CERTAINTIES— WHAT  DID  THE  OLD 
HEP.REWS  BELIEVE  AND  KNOW  AS  TO  DEATH  AND 
LIFE,  IMMORTALITY  AND  HEAVEN  —  TES ITMONY  OF 
THE  Al'OCHRYI'HA. 

In  the  history  of  a  settlement  of  men's  certainties 
in  regard  to  Divine  Inspiration,  it  is  instructive  to 
note  the  prepossessive,  and  corrective  elements  pre- 
pared against  the  Deism  and  Materialism  of  the  eigh- 
teenth and  nineteenth  centui-ies,  in  the  growth  of  the 
gi-eat  body  of  English  Theological  and  philosoi)hic 
literature  of  the  seventeenth.  For  we  have,  in  the 
compass  of  some  ten  or  twelve  volumes  of  that  Hter- 


222         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ature,  and  other  books  growing-  out  of  it,  both  na- 
tive and  foreign,  such  as  "  Stillingfleet's  Origines  Sac- 
I'iB,"  "Howe's  Living  Temj^le,"  "Butler's  Analogy," 
"  Pascal's  Thoughts,"  "  Haljburtou  on  Natural  and 
Revealed  Eeligion,"  "Lightfoot's  Harmonies  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  and  of  the  Evangelists," 
"Archbishop  Usher's  Reasons  for  our  Faith  in  God's 
Word,"  "Reinhardt's  Plan  of  Christ,"  "Edward's 
History  of  Redemption,"  "Paley's  HorjB  Paulinse," 
"Blunt's  Coincidences,"  "Chalmers'  Astronomical  Dis- 
courses," "Robinson's  Harmony  of  the  Gosj)els,"  "Al- 
exander's Connection  and  Harmony  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,"  "Robinson's  Biblical  Researches 
in  Palestine,"  and  the  now  unsej)ulchred  books 
and  localities  of  dead  and  buried  cities  in  the  East; 
a  library  of  demonstration,  with  the  resurrected 
vouchers,  against  all  the  objections  of  what  is  called 
Modern  Thought  in  oj)position  to  the  books  of  Di- 
vine Revelation.  Add  to  these  volumes  such  a  work 
as  "  D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reformation,"  and 
even  a  few  of  the  many  biographical  illustrations  of 
the  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit  with  the  Divine  Scrip- 
tures in  individual  souls,  such  as  "Luther  on  Gala- 
tions,"  "Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  "Latimer's 
Sermons  and  Life,"  and  other  illustrious  examj^les  in 
the  martyr  literature  of  England,  "Baxter's  Saints' 
Rest,"  "Doddiidge's  Rise  and  Progress,"  the  "Life 


Faith,  Doubly  and  Evidence.         22^ 

of  Jolin  Newtou,"  the  "Life  of  Henry  Martyn,"  tlie 
"  Life  and  Works  of  the  Poet  Cowper,"  "  Bunyan's 
Grace  Abounding  to  the  Chief  of  Sinners";  and  for 
the  masses  of  mankind  the  demonstration  is  as  a  vast 
sea-wall  or  rocky  continent,  against  the  ocean,  and  a 
succession  of  lighthouses  at  the  entrance  of  the 
harbors. 

The  immortal  hymn  of  Cowper  on  the  dying  thief 
confessing  Christ,  or  the  one  little  exquisite  poem  by 
Mi's.  Browning  on  CowjDer's  grave,  or  Heni-y  Kirke 
White's  "Star  of  Bethlehem,"  is  worth  more  to  the 
individual  soul,  to  the  German  nation,  to  England, 
to  the  human  race,  than  the  five  octavo  volumes  of 
"  Ewald's  History  of  Israel,"  or  all  the  books  of  Ea- 
tional  learning,  criticism,  and  theory  in  the  world  put 
together.  So  is  Goodwin's  "  Child  of  Light  walking 
in  Darkness."  So  is  Tojjlady's  "Eock  of  Ages,  cleft 
for  me."  So  are  all  the  true  songs  of  the  soul  from 
the  beginning  of  man's  j)ilgrimage.  And  the  greater 
and  wider  the  difference  and  distance  in  position,  age, 
and  era  of  these  experimental  witnesses,  the  more  ab- 
solute theii*  demonstration  of  the  same  divine  soul- 
saving  truths.  "The  great  principles  itpoken  out  every- 
xchere  in  the  Old  and  New  Testament "  sa3s  Coleridge, 
"resemble  the  fixed  stars,  which  ajjpear  of  the  same  she 
to  the  naked  as  to  the  armed  eye."  They  need  neither 
telescope  nor  microscope,  but  t)uly  a  believing  heart. 


22^         FaitJi,   DoubL  and  Evidence. 

The  meaning  is  the  more  indisixitable  because  not 
put  mei'ely  in  metaphysical  shape  by  systematic  rea- 
soners,  but  in  the  breath  of  daily  hfe,  the  life  of 
prayer,  by  common  men  Avalking  with  God,  and  al- 
most unconsciously  thinking  aloud  their  communion 
with  Hun,  their  destiny. in  His  Being,  their  hopes, 
fears,  confidences,  behefs,  consecrations,  prayers,  tow- 
ards Him  and  His  eternal  dwelling-place.  What  did 
these  antique  Hebrews  think,  this  strange  old  race, 
this  "  i^eculiar  people,"  whose  whole  existence  we 
learn  about  only  frosi  the  Word  of  God,  and  from 
their  relations  to  Him  ?  "  Spiritual  things  are  spuit- 
ually  discerned;  and  //?  Ddx  and  all  similar  enquiries,  the 
thoughts  of  the  most  spiritual  are  to  be  sought  for,  and  in 
their  most  sjnritual  moments."*  The  thoughts  of  men 
such  as  Enoch,  Abraham,  Moses,  Samuel,  Dayid,  Eli- 
jah, Hezekiah,  Isaiah,  and  of  those  whose  life  was  in- 
tricately and  practically  interwoyen  with  theirs,  and 
in  sympathy  and  feryent  communion;  of  those  also 
who  were  in  strife  and  confUct  eyen  unto  death;  both 
the  sympathy  and  the  battle  growing  out  of  opinions 
towards  God  and  eternity,  and  the  opinions  niling  or 
constituting  the  character  and  history  of  the  whole 
nation. 

There  can  be  no  truer  canon  of  interiirotation  than 

*  "Star  of  our  Lord,"  by  Francis  W.  Upbam,  Author  of  the 
"Wise  lueu  and  who  they  were,"  p.  176. 


FailJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         22^ 


this,  t)xe  mod  spu'itual  men  in  their  mod  spiritual  mo- 
menf.-<,  not  in  seasons  of  doubt  and  darkness  mereh^ 
but  of  celestial  light;  not  what  they  dreamed  of, 
sleeping,  but  what  they  believed,  waking,  and  acted 
accordingly.  This  was  their  revelation  from  God,  not 
a  mere  Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead,  or  of  anticipated 
transmigrations.  It  was  the  light  of  Hezekiah's  life, 
walking  before  God  in  truth  and  with  a  perfect  heart, 
and  weeping  sore  when  the  word  came  to  him  from 
God,  "Thou  shalt  die  and  not  live."  It  Avas  the  light, 
the  life,  the  joy,  of  his  recovery  from  sickness  and 
from  death,  and  of  his  thanksgiving,  "  Thou  hast  loved 
my  ^otil  out  of  the  pit,  for  Thou  Jui-d  cad  all  my  sina  t)e- 
hind  'Thy  back:  For  the  grave  can  not  joraise  Thee, 
death  can  not  celebrate  Thee;  the}-  that  go  down 
into  the  pit  can  not  hope  for  Thy  truth.  The  living, 
the  hving  shall  praise  Thee,  as  I  do  this  day;  and 
the  father  to  the  children  shall  make  known  Thy 
truth."  How  profoundly  beautiful  tlie  tliought  and 
its  expression  that  God  by  His  forgiving  love  had 
tenderly  raised  up  a  despairing  soul  out  of  the  pit 
to  rejoice  in  Him  and  to  praise  His  name  forever! 
The  Hebrew  alone  gives  the  divine  intensity  of  the 
work  of  mercy.  "Thou  hast  loved  my  soul  tip  out 
of  the  pit." — Is.  xxxviii.  17.  Even  so  hath  God  ever 
since  loved  us  aU  up  out  of  the  death  of  trespasses 
and  sins  and  raised  us  up  and  quickened  us  in  Christ. 


226         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Now  if  there  be  serious  questiou  at  any  time  as  to 
the  meaning  of  parts  of  this  revelation  of  death  and 
life,  that  interpretation  is  certainly  to  be  sought  and 
l^referred,  which  brings  us  nearest  to  God,  which  has 
the  most  of  God  in  it,  and  of  His  goodness,  and  of 
His  disclosures  of  the  unseen  world,  not  that  which 
can  be  restricted  to  this  world.  Of  any  two  inter- 
i:)retatious  j)ossible,  the  most  exalted  and  spiritual  is 
likely  to  be  the  truest.  "  Nearer  to  Thee,  nearer,  my 
God,  to  Thee,"  is  the  right  i^rinciple  of  study  and 
thought. 

And  then,  the  highed,  not  the  lowest  of  our  discov- 
eries is  to  be  adopted,  postulated,  as  our  Ught,  guide, 
and  encouragement.  It  is  onlj^  thus  that  we  can 
rightly  read  either  the  characters  of  the  friends  of 
God  in  the  Scriptures,  or  the  true  range  of  their 
thoughts,  or  the  direction  and  power  of  their  opin- 
ions, or  the  meaning  even  of  their  prayers.  Take 
the  case  of  Hezekiah,  and  the  endeavor  of  the  critics 
to  extract  from  his  fervent  supplications  in  the  dread 
of  dying  a  demonstration  that  he  had  no  knowledge, 
no  idea,  of  immortality.  John  Bunyan  could  be 
proved  to  have  had  no  such  idea,  by  the  same  meth- 
od, if  3^ou  start  from  the  expressions  of  his  intervals 
of  gloom,  anxiot}^  and  terror;  whereas,  the  very  dark- 
ness of  his  soul  under  the  hidings  of  God's  face  was 
the  i^roof  that  he  thoroughly  knew  and  believed  the 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         22"/ 

revelation  of  Eternal  Life  in  God,  and  longed  after  it. 
A  man's  caj)acity  of  life,  when  found  near  perishing 
in  a  snow-storm,  is  not  to  bo  judged  by  laying  a  ther- 
mometer upon  his  freezing  person.  Hezekiah's  life 
of  i)iety  and  prayer,  and  his  intensity  of  desu-e  that 
his  time  to  seek  and  to  serve  and  to  praise  God  on 
earth  might  be  lengthened  out,  were  the  signals  of 
his  belief  of  a  life  to  come  with  God  forever. 

John  Bunyan,  two  thousand  years  later,  makes  the 
record  that  "though  God  doth  visit  my  soul  with 
never  so  blessed  a  discovery  of  Himself,  yet  I  have 
found  again  that  such  hours  have  attended  me  after- 
wards, that  I  have  been  in  my  s]Dii-it  m  filled  with 
darkness,  that  I  could  not  so  much  as  conceive  ^vhal 
tliai  God  and  lohat  that  comfort  was,  with  which  I  had 
been  refi-cshed."  And  again,  "I  have  sometimes  seen 
more  in  a  line  of  the  Bible  than  I  could  well  tell  how 
to  stand  under;  and  yet  at  another  tune  the  whole 
Bible  hath  been  to  me  as  dry  as  a  stick;  or  rather, 
my  heart  hath  been  so  dead  and  dry  unto  if,  that  I  could 
not  conceive  the  least  dram  of  refreshment,  though  I 
have  looked  it  all  over."  The  experience  of  yet  an- 
other Great  Hkvrt  among  believers,  John  Owen,  is 
the  same;  and  to  such  an  education  by  the  Divine 
Sjjirit  with  the  "Word,  we  owe  such  inestimably  pre- 
cious and  comforting  volumes  as  "  Rutherford's  Let- 
ters," "Caryl  on  Job,"  Archbishop  Leighton's  "Com- 


228        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

mentaiy  on  Peter,"  "Coles  on  God's  Sovereignty," 
"Owen  on  the  130th  Psalm,"  "Flavel  on  Keei)ing  the 
Heart." 

The  critics  that  look  only  through  the  dead  and  dry 
heart  of  their  own  unbeheving  agnosticmn,  and  denial 
of  the  suijernatural,  can  not  find,  will  not  admit  that 
there  can  be  found,  in  Hezekiah's  language  (to  use 
Bunyan's  own  words)  the  least  dram  of  refreshment 
or  divine  light,  and  so  they  deny  its  insjoiration  and 
its  meaning  altogethei'.  Think  of  critical  experts  in- 
forming us  that  this  and  that  cloud-rift  of  intelligence 
and  light  from  heaven  could  never  have  existed  either 
in  Moses'  time  or  in  Hezekiah's;  for  that  the  Hebrews 
did  not  then  even  know  their  own  immortahty,  or  the 
unity  of  God !  Think  of  taking  the  vei"y  anguish  and 
gloom  of  a  sinful  conscience  in  the  terror  of  hell  and 
the  grave  to  prove  that  they  knew  nothing  of  a  life 
beyond  the  grave !  so  that  the  prayers  and  gratitude 
alike  of  Hezekiah  and  of  David  are  pressed,  dried, 
and  presented  with  the  varnish  and  smell  of  the  sej)- 
ulchre,  and  all  the  light  and  life  of  immortality  extin- 
guished from  them. 

And  these  same  critics  have  not  impartiality  enough 
to  ask  the  question.  If  these  men  knew  nothing  of  a 
life  after  death,  and  a  retribution  in  Eternit}',  why 
should  they  fear  death,  or  what  could  they  fear  be- 
yond it,  or  why  blast  and  corrode  their  daily  expe- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidejice.         22g 

rience  of  life's  pleasures  with  its  terrors?  a  thing 
which  men  even  under  the  clearest  revelation  of  a 
future  state  successfully  avoid,  in  an  insensibility  of 
the  carnal  mind  which  cannibals  do  not  rival. 

Hence,  fi-om  the  history  of  Abraham  we  see  the  un- 
speakable absurdity  of  the  pretence  that  the  old  He- 
brews learned  the  immortalit}'  of  the  sord  only  by  the 
promise  and  desire  expressed  by  the  later  prophets 
for  a  continued  national  life;  that  the  habit  of  hoping 
for  a  )udional  existence,  even  before  they  beeame  a  nation, 
could  beget  in  them  the  concej^tion  and  behef  of  an 
individual  existence  and  respousibihty  of  the  soul.  If 
that  Avas  the  way  in  which  they  arrived  at  it,  then 
manifestly  neither  Abraham,  Isaac,  nor  Jacob  could 
ever  have  had  it.  Yet  this  is  the  notion  held  even  by 
Dean  Stanley,*  and  some  other  English  writers,  in 
imitation  of  leading  German  critics.  The  immortality 
of  the  individual  soid  learned  by  the  intense  desh'es 
of   an  earthly  patriotism ! !     This   notion   is   outdone 

*  "The  conviction,"  says  Stanley  "wljich  the  proiDhcts  en- 
tertained of  the  perpetual  existence  of  the  nation,  prepared  Uie 
icay  for  iJie  conviction  of  the  endless  life  of  the  single  human 
being."  And  he  adds  the  following  sentence  as  aullioriiy,  from 
"Kuenen's  Religion  of  Israel":  "In  a  word,  Judaism  was  now 
on  the  road  towards  the  adoption  of  the  hope  of  a  personal  im- 
mortahty." — Hist,  of  the  Jewish  Church,  3d  series,  sect.  4-4, 
p.  1G7.  On  ilie  road,  down  as  late  as  Malachi,  never  known 
before ! ! 


2 JO         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

only  by  Mr.  Darwin's  supposition  that  the  human 
mind  learned  the  idea  of  God  by  Natural  Selection, 
imagining  the  benefit  that  might  be  derived  from 
such  an  idea  for  common  human  culture  before  man 
was  evolved!  or  by  Mr.  Lecky  when  he  says  that 
"  Christianity  fioaled  into  the  Roman  Empii-e  on  the 
wave  of  credulity  that  brought  with  it  the  long  train  of 
Oriental  superstitions  and  legends."  The  credulity  of  a 
mind  that  can  believe  such  a  system  as  that  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  soul's  immortality  in  God  to  have 
been  a  floating  island  of  falsehood,  consolidated  into 
a  continent  of  truth  by  Christ  and  His  apostles,  is 
itseK  all  but  a  miracle  of  uni-cason. 

When  God  said  to  Abraham  "  I  am  thy  shield,  and 
thine  exceeding  great  reVard;  walk  before  Me,  and 
be  thou  perfect";  and  when  it  was  added,  "This 
l^romise  is  unto  thee  and  to  thy  seed  forever,  and  in 
thee  shall  all  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed;  and  I 
will  establish  my  covenant  between  Me  and  thee  and 
thy  seed  after  thee  in  their  generations,  for  an  ever- 
lasting covenant,  to  be  a  God  unto  thee,  and  to  thy 
seed  after  thee,  and  I  will  be  their  God," — the  whole 
revelation  embraced  and  appealed  to  a  sense  of  im- 
mortality and  accountabihty  in  every  soul;  Me,  and 
thee,  and  thy  seed  in  their  generations,  an  ecerlading 
covenant. 

The  soul's  immortality  and  blessedness  in  God  was 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidiucc.         231 


not  only  the  highed  tiling,  but  it  was  tlie  onhj  thing 
of  any  importance,  the  only  thing  worth  reveahng; 
and  the  logic  of  the  covenanting  instrument,  as  well 
as  the  infalhble  interpreting  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
has  made  it  absolutely  certain  that  Abraham  under- 
stood its  eternal  significance;  and  also  that  then  as 
now  the  principle  of  God's  government  over  men,  its 
righteousness,  was  in  their  known  eternal  reffponsibilili/ 
to  Him,  as  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  the  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  of  all  families  of 
the  earth.  The  idea  of  that  responsibihty  was  or- 
ganic in  the  human  reason,  when  God  created  man 
in  His  own  image.  Compare  Ecclesiastes  iii.,  and 
Ecclesiasticus  xvii.  18. 

The  evidence  of  these  great  truths  as  an  heir-loom 
in  the  souls  of  the  old  Hebrews  is  found  not  merely 
in  the  Hteratui-e  of  theii-  prophets,  but  in  that  of  the 
Apochrypha  (taken  from  the  projihets  and  historians), 
in  the  books  of  Wisdom  and  Ecclesiasticus,  which 
refer  in  almost  every  chapter  to  the  histories  in  Gen- 
esis, and  the  immortality  of  the  soul  as  there  made 
known,  and  the  practical  lessons  of  life  inculcated 
from  the  contrast  drawn  between  the  ungodly  and 
the  righteous,  between  the  immortahty  of  righteous- 
ness, and  the  falsehood  of  materiahsm.  The  second 
and  third  chapters  of  the  "  Wisdom  of  Solomon  "  are 
a  vivid  contrast  between  the  songs  of  Anacrcon  and 


2J2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

the  hope  of  the  behever  in  God  confronted.  "As 
for  the  mysteries  of  God,"  says  the  writer,  speaking 
of  the  heathen  nations,  "  they  knew  them  not,  neither 
hojDed  they  for  the  wages  of  righteousness,  nor  dis- 
cerned a  reward  for  blameless  souls.  For  God  created 
man  to  be  immortal,  and  made  him  to  be  an  image  of  His 
own  eternity.  Nevertheless,  through  envy  of  the  devil 
came  death  into  the  world;  and  they  that  do  lioJd  of  his 
side  do  find  it.  But  the  souh  of  the  righteou-i  are  in  the 
hand  of  God,  and  there  shall  no  torment  touch  them; 
they  are  in  2)eace;  their  hope  is  fall  of  immortality.  After 
having  been  a  little  chastised  they  shall  be  greatly 
rewarded;  for  God  proved  them  and  found  them 
worthy  for  Himself.  They  shall  judge  the  nations 
and  have  dominion  over  the  people,  and  their  Lord 
shall  reign  forever."  See  also  the  references  to 
Enoch's  translation,  and  its  lessons  (ch.  iv.  10),  and 
the  sublime  descriptions  of  the  divine  wisdom  (vii. 
2G-30),  and  in  Ecclesiasticus  iv.  11-17,  and  v.  4-7, 
and  ch.  xvi.  17,  18-22.  "  The  trial  of  all  things  is  in 
the  end."  There  is  not  the  slightest  indication  that 
any  of  tliese  truths  or  hopes  for  eternity  were  ever 
lighted  at  the  shrines  of  Plato  and  Socrates,  or  the 
altars  of  Persian  idolatry. 

Passing  from  ]\Ialachi  into  the  Apochrypha,  Ave  find 
the  divine  seal  of  inspiration,  "And  God  sj^ake,"  "and 
God  said,"  suddenly  dropj^ed;  the  Urim  and  Thum- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2jj 

mini  of  the  divine  presence  are  wanting;  and  the 
whole  style  and  manner  of  expressions  and  thoughts, 
are  abruptly  changed.  There  is  no  more  a  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord,"  nor  even  the  pretence  of  it.  The 
contrast  is  as  striking,  as  convincing,  as  that  between 
the  New  Testament  and  the  Apochryphal  literature 
at  a  later  period. 

Yet  the  books  of  the  Apochrypha  refer  back  con- 
tinually to  the  previous  insj^ired  histories  and  proph- 
ecies as  the  Word  of  God.  And  the  truths  of  immor- 
tality and  the  resurrection  are  drawn  .so/c///  from  those 
histories,  and  from  no  Persian,  or  Platonic,  or  Egyp- 
tian sources  of  information. 

And  yet,  to  such  depths  have  the  oracles  of  divine 
truth  been  overlaid  T)y  human  traditions,  expelling 
their  spiritual  meaning,  that  even  some  historians  of 
the  Jewish  Church  aver  that  it  was  from  the  Persians 
that  the  Jews  for  the  first  time  learned  reall}'  to  pray 
to  Grod  without  images,  having  been  taught  a  more 
spiritual  worship  like  that  of  the  Persians,  by  dint  of 
having  their  own  Temple  dedroyed;  which  destruction 
removed  from  their  souls  a  veil  of  blindness,  and 
taught  them  the  onmipresence  of  the  deity!  The 
very  unity  of  God,  and  the  system  of  monotheistic 
woi'ship,  it  is  maintained  by  these  authorities,  came 
from  the  contact  of  the  Jews  with  Cn'us  and  his 
court !     "  The  Persian  doctrine  of  the  unitv  and  in- 


2^J.         FdiL'i,  DoiLbt,  and  Evidence. 

visibility  of  the  divinity,  and  of  a  celestial  and  in- 
fernal Lierarcliy,"  says  Stanley,  "was  substantially 
the  counterjjait  to  the  corresponding  elements  of  the 
Hebrew  faith."  "The  great  innovation  of  prayer  as 
a  siibstUute  for  sacrifice,  thus  took  root  in  Jewish  wor- 
ship." "Hannah's  devotion  in  the  Temple"  is  re- 
ferred to  as  "the  first  example  of  silent  jn-ayer." 
Stanley's  Hist.  Jewish  Church,  3d  series,  Sect.  44, 
and  pp.  46,  1G7,  208,  159,  206,  375.  As  if  there  could 
have  been  such  a  reality  as  the  church  of  God  with- 
out i^rayer,  or  a  history  of  such  a  chiu-ch  without  the 
triumjihs  of  faith  through  prayer. 


XXX. 


FORMS  OF  PRAYER,  AND  GOD'S  BENEVOLENT  AND 
PROPHETIC  DISCIPLINARY  WORK  WITH  THEM  UPON 
THE  SOUL. 

It  is  wonderful  indeed  to  see  how  maaiy  exjieri- 
ences  of  our  fallen,  sinful,  seK-condemned  nature  are 
foreseen  and  provided  for  in  the  various  forms  of 
prayer  scattered  as  Jacob's  ladders,  Bethels,  or  i)atri- 
archal  and  apostolic  wells  of  Hving  water,  or  altars 
of  witnesses  of  God's  love,  through  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures.  It  is  written  in  the  prophets,  "They 
shall  be  all  taught  of  God.     Eccvy  man  therefore  that 


Faith,  Dj-t'jt,  and  Evidence.         2j^ 


hath  heard  and  learned  of  the  Father  cometh  to  Mk." 
"They  did  all  eat  the  same  ."^pirilua!  meat,  and  did  all 
drink  the  f^ame  qnritaal  dnnl;  for  they  drank  of  that 
spiritual  Rock  that  went  with  them;  and  that  Rock 
WAS  Cheist."  The  habit  of  prayer  was  always  the 
same  habit  of  hungering  and  thii-sting  after  right- 
eousness, taught  to  the  soul,  if  ever  taught  of  God 
at  all,  out  of  the  deep  and  painfvd  experience  of  its 
own  sinfulness. 

The  prayer  of  Moses  for  God's  merciful  forgive- 
ness of  the  sin  of  idolatry  in  the  people  (Ex.  xxxii. 
30)  (a  prophetic  atoning  prayer,  "  Peradventure  I 
shall  make  an  atonement")  that  they  might  not  for 
that  sin  be  blotted  out  of  God's  Book;  the  prayer 
in  the  desert  (Ps.  xc),  for  penetration  of  the  soul 
with  the  lesson  of  our  mortality;  the  prayer  of  David, 
the  confession  of  guilt  out  of  a  broken  heart  and  con- 
trite spirit;  the  prayer  for  the  kingdom  of  the  Mes- 
siah in  the  72d  Psalm,  prophetic  and  intercessory  for 
the  redemption  of  all  mankind. 

The  prayer  of  Solomon  in  the  Temple  at  its  dedi- 
cation, as  God's  House  of  Prayer  for  all  nations; 
the  prayers  of  Isaiah  through  foresight  of  Him  "on 
whom  the  Lord  hath  laid  the  iniquities  of  us  all"; 
the  prayers  of  Habakkuk  for  the  revival  of  God's 
work;  the  missionary  prayers  of  the  G7th  Psalm  and 
many  similar  in  the  books  of  the  proj)hets. 


2j6         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

The  prayers  out  of  the  depths,  the  prayers  from 
the  ends  of  the  earth  ^\-heu  the  heart  is  ovei'- 
whelmed,  the  prayers  to  brhig  to  remembrance 
God's  forgiving  mercy,  the  prayers  committing  the 
soul  to  God,  the  prayers  for  God's  presence  and 
light  within  the  soul  while  living,  the  prayers  for 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  dying,  the  prayers  against  the 
hiding  of  God's  face  from  the  soul,  the  prayers  for 
the  new  creation  of  the  heart,  for  entire  deliver- 
ance from  sin,  for  meekness  and  singleness  of  spirit, 
for  God's  heart-searching  and  cleansing  grace,  the 
prayers  of  souls  thu'sting  after  God,  watching  and 
waiting  for  Him,  rejoicing  in  his  forgiving  love. 

This  spirit  of  j)rayer  is  the  verj^  breath  of  Messianic 
jirophecy  and  praise.  "  Thy  chariots  were  salvation." 
"VVlierever  there  is  prayer  there  was  the  I  AM,  the 
divine  Saviour,  there  the  Holy  Spirit  the  Comforter, 
and  Intercessor,  and  there  the  promises  in  the  cove- 
nant and  rainbow  prayers  begun  by  Noah,  Abraham, 
Job,  and  Jacob,*  and  continued  and  perfected  in  the 
prayers  of  David,   the  Son  of  Jesse,  to  be  set  and 

*  Dean  Stanley  says  that  the  words  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xlix.  18), 
"I  have  waited  for  Thy  salvation,  0  Lord,"  were  "//(«  haiWt  cry 
of  the  tribe  of  Ban .'"  A  more  signal  instance  of  the  frigid,  seijul- 
chral  style  of  the  Rationalizing  Critics  it  would  be  difficult  to 
select,  unless  it  were  when  Haggai's  "Desire  of  Nations"  is  con- 
strued as  the  passion  of  glory  in  silver  and  gold. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2jj 

fulfilled  as  an  endless  example,  by  the  Koot  and  Oflf- 
sj^ring  of  David,  He  that  hath  the  Key  of  David,  and 
the  keys  of  Hades  and  of  death;  "Thy  kingdom  come." 
"Prayer  also  shall  be  made  for  Him  continually,  and  daily 
shall  He  be  jjraised." — Ps.  Ixxii.  15.  Renewed  also  and 
interpreted,  in  such  a  shaft  of  light  and  glory,  in 
Is.  XXV.  8,  9,  concerning  His  coming,  who  wiU  swal- 
low up  death  in  victory. 

In  order  to  know  how  much  might  have  been 
seen  by  the  lightning  at  midnight  and  amidst  the 
storm,  we  must  have  been  some  time  in  the  mid- 
niglit  and  the  storm  ourselves.  And  we  could  never 
forget  that  which  we  beheld.  What  is  so  engraven 
on  the  soul  is  there  forever.  So  Job  exclaimed,  be- 
holding the  lightning  revelations  of  God's  mercy  to 
his  soul  amidst  the  blackness  of  the  darkness  of 
such  a  night,  "  Oh  that  mj'  words  were  now  wkitten  ! 
oh  that  they  were  printed  in  a  book !  That  they 
were  graven  with  an  iron  j^en  and  lead  in  the  rock 
FOREVER !     For   I  know  that   my   Redeemer   lr^th  !  " 

They  xoere  written,  for  the  generations  to  come; 
and  the  great  truths  of  immortality,  the  resurrection, 
and  eternal  life  are  there,  for  whomsoever  of  aU  the 
millions  of  our  race  it  may  be  who  desires  to  find 
them.  And  all  the  prayers  of  which  we  have  ex- 
amples are  the  breathings  of  hearts  exactly  such  as 
om-  own,   pouring  forth  the  desires   after   God   and 


2j8         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

His  salvation  and  glory,  taught  in  their  own  souls 
by  the  indwelling  and  regenerating  spirit  of  God. 
There  is  no  other  Htany  in  the  Word  of  God,  than 
these  yearnings  after  God's  mercy  in  i^enitential 
hearts  sensible  of  guilt.  And  no  other  key  of  en- 
trance and  command  at  God's  throne,  for  the  chief 
of  sinners,  but  this,  of  Christ's  announcement.  Be- 
hold He  pra^eth ! 

Hence  the  argument  as  to  the  divine  origin  and 
nature  of  the  old  practical  life  of  faith  in  God,  in 
view  of  His  eternity,  so  irresistibly  convincing,  in 
the  manifest  habit  of  prayer  and  sense  of  the  Di- 
vine Presence  indicated  by  the  use  of  commemo- 
rative names  for  places,  and  for  children,  connected 
with  God's  providential  and  saving  interpositions  of 
mercy  and  love.  Let  any  student  of  the  Bible  and  of 
the  undercurrent  of  God's  revelations  in  it,  take  the 
Hebrew  Lexicon  and  Concordance,  and  trace  out 
the  instances  of  chorographical,  memorial,  and  bap- 
tismal names  of  men  and  places,  recalhng  to  thie 
mind,  eveiy where,  God  and  His  salvation;  he  will 
find  more  than  three  hundred  iUustratious  of  this 
ingrained  reverence  and  love  for  the  God  of  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  and  Jacob.  And  he  wiU  note,  (1)  that 
it  was  not  an  appointed  formalism;  (2)  not  the  name 
merely,  but  the  spiritual  attributes  of  Jehovah,  called 
to  mind;  (3)  esj)ecially,  not  merely  the  omnipresence 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2jg 

of  Gocl,  but  His  indicellinr/  jvaence,  in  and  with  tbo 
soul,  the  secret  of  His  presence,  and  the  experimental 
knowledge  of  His  ijromises  of  salvation.  He  will  see 
that  this  habit  of  speech  and  salutation  (as  in  the  man- 
ner of  Boaz),  could  not  possibly  have  come  about, 
except  from  a  personal  fountain  of  intuition  and  com- 
munion with  God,  as  well  as  the  knowledge  of  His 
Word,  as  in  the  threefold  blessing  and  commemo- 
ration of  God,  commanded  in  His  "Word  by  Moses, 
in  Numbers  vi.  22-27.  All  this  was  God's  teaching 
by  His  own  Spirit  in  the  heart.  Not  only  "By  the 
"Word  of  the  Lord  were  these  heavens  made,  but 
all  the  host  of  them  bij  the  Spirit  of  His  mouth.''  The 
llGth  Psalm  is  an  illustrious  instance  of  the  heart- 
felt combination  of  all  these  qualities  of  prayer,  out 
of  soul-troubles,  even  unto  death;  dehverance,  com- 
memoration, vows  of  gTatitude,  love,  and  endless  con- 
fidence; promises  and  payment,  with  the  cup  of  salva- 
tion, and  the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving,  in  the  presence  of 
all  the  jx^ople  of  God. 

The  dedicating  prayer  of  Solomon,  a  thousand 
years  before  Christ,  is  the  glory  of  the  Lord's  for- 
giving love,  filling  the  Temple.  The  light  of  this 
IH'ayer,  ascending  in  the  history,  floods  the  whole 
nation  with  divine  intelligence,  and  the  whole  record 
of  events  before  and  after  with  God's  presence,  God's 
love,  and  the  knowledge  of  it.     The  historical  and 


2^0         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

prophetic  Scriptures  are  all  illumiuated  and  inter- 
preted by  it. 

There  is  the  same  governing  and  exjilaining  light 
that  we  have  seen  kindled  in  the  third  chapter  of 
Ecclesiastes.  It  is  as  a  tunnel  through  the  Alj^s, 
lighted  with  electricity  hke  the  sunshine,  saturating 
even  the  hidden  gold  and  quartz  veins  with  demon- 
stration of  a  sjDiritual  life.  There  are  indeed  inter- 
regnums and  revolutions  in  the  spiritual  as  in  the 
chronological  histor}^ 

But  where  do  we  get  the  governing  certainties 
and  glories  of  this  spiritual  interpretation,  and  where 
was  the  beginning  of  this  highest,  brightest,  and 
truest  of  all  mysticisms?  It  was  only  in  the  re- 
vealed j)resence  and  omnipresence  of  Jehovah.  With- 
out the  assurance  of  that,  where  could  there  be  the 
belief  or  the  knowledge  of  the  j)ower  of  jorayer,  or 
the  habit  of  the  life  of  faith  accordingly  ?  "  He  that 
Cometh  to  God  must  believe  (1)  that  He  is,  and  (2) 
that  He  is  a  rewarder  (3)  of  those  who  diligently 
seek  Him."  There  never  could  have  been  piety  with- 
out prayer,  or  faith  in  God  without  seeking  Him  in 
prayer.  "  Ye  shall  seek  Me  and  find  Me,  when  ye 
shall  seek  for  Me  with  aU  your  hearts." 

We  caU  to  mind  the  supplication  of  Moses  to  God, 
wdien  God  had  threatened  to  leave  the  rebellious 
people  to  themselves  and   let  them   find  their   own 


Faith.,  Doubt,  and  Evidence,  2^1 

way,  if  tliey  could,  to  a  land  of  plenty.  "  And  Moses 
said.  If  THi"  PRESENCE  go  not  with  us,  carry  us  not 
up  hence.  I  beseech  Thee,  show  me  Thy  glory." 
Ex.  xxxiii.  15,  18. 

Thy  presence!  It  is  a  most  profound  and  mag- 
nificent abstraction,  revealing  an  infinitude  of  spir- 
itual hght,  even  in  the  comparatively  little  knowl- 
edge of  God  already  in  possession  of  the  soul.  If 
God's  presence  were  wanting,  of  what  account  were 
all  the  visions  of  earthly  good  ?  It  was  not  long 
life,  not  the  promised  land,  not  houses  and  vine- 
yards, nor  a  throne,  nor  a  kingdom,  nor  any  thing 
in  tliis  world,  but  God  only,  in  them,  and  with  them, 
and  among  them!  And  if  not  God's  gift  thus,  of 
Himself,  giving  Himself,  then  nothing. 

And  what  indeed,  Avould  be  a  future  life,  without 
God's  presence?  In  that,  and  only  thai,  is  Immortality 
desirable,  or  can  be  jiossessed.  Where  God  is,  there 
is  a  future  existence,  there  is  heaven,  there  is  eternal 
life.  But  without  that,  let  us  rather  drop  and  be  for- 
gotten. Annihilation  were  better,  than  to  live  on, 
forsaken  of  God. 

"And  God  said.  My  Presence  shall  go  with  thee, 
and  I  will  give  thee  rest."  Eest  in  God !  It  makes 
us  think  of  the  words  of  a  devout  poet — 

"  Who  wauts  the  place  where  God  doth  dwell 
Paxtakes  already  hiilf  of  hoU." 


242         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

If  this  meant  only  Palestine,  and  a  quiet  possession 
and  home  and  comfort  and  contentment  there,  Moses 
never  reached  it,  and  his  prayer  was  never  answered, 
but  he  and  Aai'on  were  shut  out,  forever. 

But  it  meant  what  grew  into  a  river  and  a  sea  by 
"Successive  revelations  fi"om  generation  to  generation 
"and  fi-om  prophet  to  j>rophet,  all  looking  back  to 
this  fervent  j^rayer  and  divine  promise  as  their 
fountain.  It  meant  the  90th  Psalm,  God  our  dwell- 
ing place  in  all  generations  fi-om  everlasting  to 
everlasting. 

It  meant  the  3Gth  Psalm,  "  With  Tliee  is  the  Foun- 
tain of  Life,''  and  the  16th,  "In  Thy  prasenc^  is  fulness 
of  joy,  and  at  Thy  right  hand  aa-e  pleasures  for  ever- 
more." And  the  139th,  "  Whither  shall  I  flee  from  Thy 
Presence  ?  "  And  the  42d,  "  His  'p'e^nce,  our  saloa- 
tion."  And  the  51st,  "Cast  me  not  away  from  Thy 
Presence,  and  take  not  Thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me." 

And  so  the  stream  of  this  revelation  grew  on, 
broadened,  deepened,  till  lost  in  Him  in  whom  be- 
lieving we  are  filled  with  all  the  fuhiess  of  God,  and 
from  whom  by  faith  receiving  the  water  of  life,  it  be- 
comes in  us  a  well  of  water  sjDnnging  up  to  everlast- 
ing life;  the  life  a  life  divine,  and  the  i>eace  and  rest 
the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  all  understanding. 

These  interjected  lights^  these  shafts  of  eternal 
mercy  amidst  such  depths  and  tragedies  of  human 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         ^yj 

guilt  and  misery,  these  sudden  flashings  of  divine  pur- 
250se,  will,  and  holy  compassionate  meaning;  cloud- 
rifts  and  cleansing  hghtnings  of  heaven  through 
a  chaos  of  sin  and  woe;  lights  revealing  and  con- 
sonant with  the  whole  atmosphere  and  law  of  gravi- 
tation for  the  soul  towards  God;  these  are  the  things 
that  lighten  the  whole  earth  with  His  glory. 

His  history  of  our  fall,  His  inter^^ositions  to  save 
us  from  our  sins,  are  demonstrations,  the  belief  and 
grateful  acceptance  of  which  are  the  beginnings  of 
an  2)ossibility  of  spiritual  life  and  health;  and  thence- 
forward piety  is  in  the  confession  of  guilt,  the  pra^-er 
for  pardon,  the  faith  in  God's  forgiving  mercy,  and 
the  life  obedient  out  of  love.  "We  come  to  the  book 
of  Psalms,  in  the  centre  of  these  orbs  of  history,  law, 
prophecy  and  pra^'er,  and  it  is  heaven  oj^ened,  angels 
ascending  and  descending,  thoughts,  aspirations,  ac- 
tivities, celestial  forces,  a  life  0)x  earth,  that  is  not  of 
earth,  but  an  inner  life  of  holy  desires,  praise,  wor- 
ship, reverence,  contrition,  adoration,  joy,  supplica- 
tion and  weeping;  thoughts  of  God  and  man,  that 
could  come  only  from  God,  and  are  uttered  before 
Him.  And  the  light  of  this  book  irradiates  the  whole 
surrounding  spiritual  universe  and  explains  its  m^-s- 
teries,  in  the  submission  of  man's  reason  to  God's 
wisdom  and  will,  and  of  man's  heart  to  the  influences 
and  methods  of  God's  love.     It  is  at  once  Law  and 


2^^         Faith,  Doiiht,  and  Evidence. 

Life,  Reason  and  Faith,  Logic  and  Love ;  a  law-book, 
and  at  the  same  tune  a  hfe-book,  even  after  violation 
of  the  law;  a  commentary  and  a  song,  angels  and  men 
studying  the  same  text,  rapt  in  the  same  praises,  but 
all  true  piety  in  men,  since  the  history  of  the  fall 
setting  out  with  the  penitential  confession  of  guilt 
and  the  cry  for  pardon;  and  one  of  the  sweetest, 
most  grateful  and  exultant  of  all  psalms  beginning 
with  that  in  which  God  hath  "magnified  His  Word 
above  all  His  name,"  "Bless  the  Lord  O  my  soul,  who 
FORGivETH  ALL  THINE  INIQUITIES:"  God  ill  Christ,  the 
same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever,  inhabiting  the 
contrite  heart  and  inspiring  its  praises,  even  as  He 
doth  eternity. 

How  wonderfully  and  mercifully  educating,  in- 
structing and  sanctifying,  for  imitation,  practice  and 
encouragement,  the  varied  forms  of  intercourse  with 
God  thus  recorded.  "What  human  being,  since  our 
Lord  on  earth  prayed  for  all  souls  that  through  Him 
would  believe  in  a  i)rayer-hearing  God  but  may  find 
some  foot-worn  path  of  tearful  sui:)phcation,  a  way 
that  the  most  sinful  soul  may  successful!}^  take  to 
bring  him  to  God's  mercy -seat,  accejited  thi*ough 
Christ.  "What  path  from  Job  downwards  that  hath 
not  been  trodden  for  the  benefit  of  generations  yet 
to  come.  And  from  Adam  to  our  day,  never  yet  an 
era  of  human  life  out  of  which  there  hath  not  ascended 


Faith,  Doiibf,  and  Evidence.  24^ 

to  God  this  common  universal  acknowledgment  of  His 
being,  providence  and  grace. 

Some  of  these  prayers  are  but  the  stammerings  of 
a  child.  Yet  out  of  the  moutli  of  babes  and  sucklings 
God  is  always  perfecting  praise,  to  still  the  Enemy 
and  Avenger.  If  we  will  but  learn  the  a,  h,  c,  God 
will  soon  put  our  souls  into  two  syllables,  and  then 
teach  us  speedily  whole  sentences.  And  in  them 
we  find,  travelling  from  Moses  to  Paul,  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  hidden  glories  kept  secret  from  the  foun- 
dation of  the  world,  until  revealed  through  Christ's 
death  and  resurrection  by  the  Holy  Spu'it  in  the 
heart.  From  the  90th  Psalm  to  the  second  chapter 
of  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  fifteen  hundred 
years  in  time,  with  successive  eras  of  ever  increasing 
illumination.  And  yet,  when  we  step  into  the  flaming 
chariot  of  Paul's  prayer,  we  find  that  thus  only  we 
begin  to  understand  that  of  Mosas  in  the  wilderness, 
"  I  beseech  Thee  show  me  Thy  glory !  Let  Thy  work 
appear  unto  Thy  servants  and  Thy  glory  unto  theu- 
children.  And  let  the  bsauty  of  the  Lord  our  God 
be  upon  us;  and  establish  Thou  the  work  of  our 
hands  up  )n  us,  yea,  the  work  of  our  hands  estab- 
lish Thou  it."  Tiie  talismanic  phra33s  of  Paul  could 
be  given  to  the  mind  with  foresight  of  their  mean- 
ing only  by  the  same  Divine  Spirit  that  taught  Moses; 
and  the  Interpreter  is  never  absent  from  tho  inspu-a- 


2^6        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

tion,  wherever  there  is  a  watching,  believing,  jjraying 
heart,  and  Christ  conversing  with  it. 

Now  to  deny  that  the  Old  Hebrews  prayed,  that 
they  knew  how  to  pray,  is  to  deny  that  they  ever 
were  the  i:)eople  of  God,  that  they  ever  possessed  one 
element  of  piety  aecei^table  to  Him;  it  is  to  affirm 
that  they  were  not  so  much  idolaters  as  atheists. 
Yet  their  habits  both  in  faith  and  prayer  are  set 
forth  as  our  best  and  safest  examples.  If  a  meteor 
from  another  world  had  bur.st  upan  this,  our  analytic 
chemists  could  tell  us  Avhat  were  the  organizing  ele- 
ments of  that  world;  and  so,  fi-om  the  fragments  of 
the  Old  Testament  suj)plications  we  can  tell  the  piety 
that  then  and  there  prevailed  and  that  it  was  a  fer- 
vent, i^rayerful,  penitential  belief  in  the  same  God  and 
Saviour,  whom  we  ourselves  believe  and  trust  in  the 
gospels.  Pra^'er  is  the  one  central  element  and  demon- 
stration of  all  spiritual  life;  and  to  deny  that  the  old 
Hebrews  knew  how  to  j)ray  is  to  deny  that  God  had 
ever  even  been  revealed  to  them.  But  these  jjrayers, 
and  the  invitations,  commands,  and  promises  to  those 
who  seek  God  according  to  His  revealed  Word,  are  as 
rivers  of  the  Water  of  Life,  for  every  thing  of  soul  sus- 
tenance and  communion  with  God  is  in  them.  They 
trace  a  sjiiritual  life  and  faith  rising  in  the  fountain 
of  God's  love,  and  running  through  green  pastures 
of  purest  sympathy  \\\i\\  (Jod  and  good-will  to  men. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         24.^ 


Now  the  very  beginning  and  absolute  Vou  S(o 
of  all  just  and  infallible  reasoning  is  from  Christ's 
words  in  the  New  Testament  to  God's  words  in  the 
Old.  He  who  is  himself  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the 
Life,  leads,  justifies,  constrains  us,  in  this  reasoning. 


XXXI. 

BELYIN(}   THE  WORD   OF  THE   LORD  A  MODERN 
FORM  OF  BLASPHEMY  AND  CRUELTY. 

But  the  natural  man  ren'tcrth  not  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  neither  can  he  know  them,  for  they 
are  foolishness  unto  him.  The  key-notes  of  this  di- 
vine revelation  touch  no  melodies  in  his  soul,  com- 
mand no  answering  strains  of  belief  and  symjjathy. 
There  is  neither  oi)8n  vision,  nor  sympathetic  nor 
creative  faith. 

"Earth's  crammed  with  heaven," 
exclaims  Mrs.  Browning, 

"And  every  common  bush  afire  with  God: 
But  only  he  who  sees,  takes  oflf  his  shoes: 
The  rest  sit  round  it,  and — pluck  blackberries." 

There  are  but  few  that  have  spirituality  of  miml 
enough  even  to  turn  aside  tliat  they  may  see  what 
nieaneth  the  heat  of  tliis  great  anger,   or  what  the 


24S        Faith,  Doicbt,  and  Evidence. 

glory  of  this  supernatural  fire.  Few  that  ask,  where 
did  he  get  that  prajer,  that  principle,  that  lightning 
disclosure  from  Eternity?  Few  that  say  with  won- 
dering Jacob,  Siu'ely  the  Lord  is  in  this  jslace,  and 
I  knew  it  not.  These  "blackben^y  critics"  tvu-n  the 
whole  Word  of  God  into  infinite  foolishnetis  for  the 
natural  maxi;  and  therein  claim  for  themselves,  in 
hehalf  of  all  defrauded  men  who  follow  their  coun- 
sels, the  curses  against  the  man  that  removeth  his 
neighbor's  landmark,  that  maketh  the  blind  to  wan- 
der out  of  the  way,  that  perverteth  the  judgment  of  the 
stranger,  fatherless,  and  Avidow,  that  putteth  a  stum- 
bling-block before  the  blind.  These  reckless  scholars 
teaching  men  that  ai-t  of  '■'belying  the  Word  of  tlie  Lord," 
that  had  come  to  such  perfection  even  twenty-five 
hundred  years  ago,  and  is  renewed  now,  two  thou- 
sand years  after  the  hght  of  the  gospels,  flooding  all 
nations,  are  tridy  "  the  children  of  them  that  liUed 
tlie  prophets.  They  shut  up  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
against  men,  taking  away  the  kej's  thereof,  neither 
entering  themselves,  nor  suffering  those  that  are  en- 
tering to  go  in." — Matt,  xxiii.  13,  31.  What  wonder 
at  our  Lord's  terrific  denunciations  of  such  hard- 
ened spiritual  unpiety  and  cruelty  ? 

"I  heard  an  angel  spoalt  last  night: 
From  the  summits  of  love  a  curse  is  driven 
As  lightning  is  from  the  tops  of  heaven." 


Faith,  Doitbt,  and  Evidence.         2^g 

The  denying  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, the  putting  out  of  the  hghts  there  kindled  and 
cloud-pniared  by  God's  mercy  for  mankind,  the  dis- 
tortion and  erasure  of  the  traces  and  seals  of  Messiah- 
ship  (Emmanuel,  God  Avith  us),  the  elaborate  painful 
destruction  of  the  drawings,  the  colors,  the  pen- 
strokes  and  blood-red  engravings,  just  as  Avhen  skilful 
manipulators  and  forgers  of  wlUs  annihilate  figures 
and  signatures  by  chemical  jJi'ocesses,  and  then  insert 
words  and  meanings  of  their  own;  this  devastating 
process,  excluding  Christ,  whose  presence  was  de- 
clared by  Himself  to  have  been  the  one  indwelling 
life  that  alone  rendered  the  Old  Testament  of  any 
value,  and  made  it  a  fountain  of  life,  the  power  of 
healing  and  salvation  for  the  soul;  who  but  Christ 
Himself  in  love  to  mankind,  could  describe  its  wicked- 
ness? Language  can  not  tell  the  terrible  malignity 
of  such  a  proceeding.  If  devils  could  take  the  oxygen 
from  our  air,  the  sunshine  and  its  power  of  sustaining 
life  from  God's  light,  leaving  us  to  grope  through  the 
earth  in  the  blackness  of  darkness,  even  this  would 
be  but  a  faint  image  of  the  blasj^hemy  against  God, 
and  the  cruelty  against  man,  inseparable  from  such 
a  work.  To  think  of  scholars  making  it  the  business 
of  their  life,  the  support  of  their  jirofcssorships,  the 
attraction  for  their  students,  to  prove  that  there  never 
was  a  divine  Saviour,  nor  ever  a  need  of  Him !     ]\Iak- 


2^0        Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ing  their  living  by  ruuniug  the  machiueries  of  de- 
struction and  death !  It  makes  one  think  of  the  won- 
derful forbearance  of  Grod  and  of  Cotta's  old  argument 
urged  against  the  doctrine  of  a  divine  providence,  that 
such  a  man  as  Caius  Marius  could  die  in  a  good  old  age 
in  the  career  of  his  seventh  consulship !  Mysterious 
indeed  that  God  should  ever  have  permitted  His 
Word  to  be  handled  by  men,  the  whole  aim  of  whose 
critical  learning  is  to  make  Christ  Crucified  to  the 
Jews  a  stumbling-block  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness ! 

The  whole  work  is  worse  than  Uzziah's  attempted 
intrusion  into  the  very  presence  chamber  of  the  King 
of  kings.  God  our  Father,  Christ  our  Saviour,  the 
Holy  Spirit  our  Sanctifier,  denied,  "trampled  under 
foot,  put  to  an  open  shame."  David  said,  "I  will 
praise  Thy  name,  O  God,  for  Thy  loving  kindness 
and  Thy  truth,  for  Thou  hast  magnified  Thy  Word 
above  all  Thy  name."  But  these  critics  blaspheme 
this  manifestation  of  God  more  perversely  than  any 
other  revelations  of  His  glory;  and  the  utmost  learn- 
ing, earnestness  and  genius  can  only  exasperate  the 
evil  and  give  countenance  to  the  spiritual  jjlague,  so 
that,  in  the  Bible  for  learners  and  the  Encyclopedia 
for  scholars  we  find  it  given  free  course  and  glorified. 

"Are  ye  come  out  as  against  a  thief  with  swords 
and  staves  for  to  take  Me?  I  sat  daily  with  you 
in  the  Tcmi)le,  teaching  you,  and  ye  laid  no  hands 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2^t 

on  Me."  Do  you  criticise  the  Divine  Word  as  a 
surgeon  would  the  leper?  It  is  as  if  Abraham  had 
arrested  the  angels  as  tramps,  and  carried  them  away 
to  the  nearest  station  house.  It  is  as  if  a  living, 
healthy  i:)erson  were  laid  out  on  the  dissecting  table, 
and  cut  up  to  demonstrate  disease. 

The  severity  with  which  Prof.  Tayler  Lewis  has 
treated  this  style  of  criticism  can  not  be  regarded  as 
uncharitable  by  any  one  who  considers  the  value  of 
the  truth  and  the  infinite  importance  and  majesty  of 
its  evidence  thus  by  these  men  distorted  and  denied. 
The  accusations  brought  .against  the  Old  Testament 
writers  by  these  critics  destroy  all  right  and  reason 
on  their  part  for  referring  to  any  of  the  prophets  as 
authorities  at  all,  either  in  supj)ort  of  their  own  the- 
ories, or  against  what  they  call  traditionary  myths. 
With  what  prodigious  power  has  Prof.  Lewis  in  his 
excin'sus  on  the  forty-ninth  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  his 
profoundly  thoughtful,  holy,  and  learned  notes  and 
essays  on  Job,  demonstrated  this  consequence;  the 
annihilating  effect  of  their  own  accusations  upon 
themselves.  "It  is  usual,"  says  he,  "for  this  Higher 
Criticism  to  speak,  or  aftect  to  speak,  with  great  re- 
spect of  the  Hebrew  prophets  as  very  sincere  and 
honest  men,  upright,  professing  a  stern  morality,  in 
advance  of  their  age,  etc. ;  but  what  are  they  on  tliis 
hypothesis,   of  the  forger}^  of  Isaiah's  name  for  ex- 


2^2         Faith,  Dotibt,  and  Evidence. 


ample,  and  the  stealing  of  liis  repntation  as  tlieii'  own, 
bvit  base  liars,  conscious,  circumstantial  liars,  3'ea,  the 
boldest  as  well  as  the  most  impious  of  blasphemers !  " 

For  it  can  not  be  denied  that  our  Saviour  Christ 
Himself  is  involved  in  the  same  blasphemy.  And 
these  critics  set  themselves  openly  in  company  with 
those  scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  Jews,  who  came 
in  a  body  to  Pilate,  when  Christ  had  been  cnicified, 
saying,  "  Sir,  Ave  remember  that  that  Deceiver  said, 
while  He  was  yet  alive,  after  three  days  I  will  rise 
AGAIN."  It  was  their  creed  of  sincere  blasphemy, 
which  they  intended,  with  Pilate's  co-operation,  and 
by  large  money  given  to  the  soldiers,  to  have  fastened 
on  the  world,  establishing  the  story  of  the  resurrec- 
tion as  an  ai)ostolic  conspiracy  and  fraud. 

"Wonderful  stupidity,  amidst  all  their  cunning,  that 
they  did  not  perceive  how,  for  Pilate's  satisfaction, 
and  that  of  all  generations  after  him,  ever  asking, 
What  is  truth?  they  established  for  all  time,  where- 
ever  the  gospels  .  should  be  preached,  this  undis- 
puted fact  that  Christ,  long  before  His  crucifixion, 
had  predicted  it,  and  His  descent  into  the  grave, 
and  His  resurrection.  And  wonderful  the  accord- 
ance of  these  words  with  those  of  the  angels  at  the 
empty  sepulchre,  "  He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen.  Jie- 
onemlK'r  liow  JTc  spal-e  viilo  you,  saying,  The  Son  of 
man  must  bo  delivered  into  the  hands  of  sinful  men 


\ 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.        2^j 


and  be  crucified,  and  the  third  day  rise  again."  They 
remembord  HU  iror<U,  and  the  proofs  of  their  divine- 
ness; — so  did  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  reporting 
them  to  Pilate,  with  a  profane  historic  seal  set  by 
themselves  for  all  ages,  and  by  enmity  securing  them. 
That  Deceiver  !  It  was  the  inscrii^tion  that  they 
would  have  dictated  to  Pilate  in  large  letters  of  Greek 
and  Hebrew  and  Latin  over  the  cross,  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, THAT  Deceiver.  It  is  the  title  under  which  the 
rationalistic  criticism  of  modern  scientific  thought  in- 
troduces Him  to  the  whole  world,  to  the  youthful 
mind  and  heart,  to  the  student  even  of  the  gospels. 
If  this  tide  of  blasphemy  under  assumption  of  historic 
accuracy  and  sincere  high-minded  doubt,  could  have 
its  wished  for  way,  and  passing  through  our  common 
schools  and  colleges  enter  our  theological  semina- 
ries, and  leave  the  silt  and  deposit  of  such  j^reiDOsses- 
sions  for  one  generation,  a  hundred  years  of  peniten- 
tial sorrow  could  not,  except  by  the  grace  of  God, 
bring  back  the  common  mind  to  such  simplicity  and 
humility  of  spirit  as  would  tit  it  to  receive  in  loving 
faith  the  image  of  the  Saviour  in  the  New  Testament. 


2^4         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XXXII. 

THE  WORD  OF  GOD  CRUCIFIED  BETWEEN  TWO  THIEVES 
—CONSEQUENCES  OF  SUCH  SCEPTICISM  — MIRACLES 
OF  LYING  ADMITTED  TO  BALANCE  THE  MIRACLES  OF 
GOD,  AND  PUT  ON  THE  SAME  FOOTING  OF  SINCER- 
ITY—TESTIMONIES  OF  THE  19th  AND   iiglh  PSALMS. 

This  treatment  of  the  Son  of  God,  the  Personal 
"Word  Incarnate,  in  the  j^rocess  of  the  first  crucifix- 
ion, by  the  High  Priests  and  rulers  of  the  Jews,  is 
renewed  at  this  day  by  intelligent  scoffers,  who  have 
"  crucified  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and 
put  Him  to  an  open  shame";  "who  have  trodden 
under  foot  the  Son  of  God,  and  counted  the  blood 
of  the  covenant  wherewith  He  was  sanctified  an  un- 
holy thing." — Heb.  vi.  x.  Even  so  these  scholars  set 
the  Word  between  two  thieves;  they  number  it  with 
transgressors ;  they  accuse  it  by  false  witnesses  of 
blasphemy,  forgery,  sorcery,  and  lying;  they  cover  it 
with  scorn,  they  crown  it  with  thorns,  they  attend 
every  step  towards  the  Cross  with  revilings.  They 
command  their  historical  recorders  to  ""Write  not, 
TuE  King  of  the  Jews,  but  that  lie  said,  I  am, 
knowing  that  He  was  not.  Write  that  He  lied." 
Then  they  make  the  sepulchre  sure,  having  em- 
balmed   the    body    as    a    mummy,    at    Pilate's    com- 


Faith,  Dotcbt,  and  Evidence.         ^55 

mand,  sealing  the  stone  and  setting  a  watch.  An 
example  of  such  treatment  is  to  be  found  in  the 
"  Encyclopedia  Britannica  "  in  the  article  on  the  word 
Bible.  It  is  a  mere  I'esame  of  the  speculations  and 
conjectures  of  infidel  critics;  a  j^rimer  of  the  creed 
of  second-hand  rationalism  for  the  use  of  those  who 
can  not  read  German  authorities  in  the  original.  Yet 
there  it  stands  as  a  professed  believer's  description 
of  the  Christian  Scriptures;  a  caricature  of  sacred 
truth  as  nothing  better  than  anonymous  plagiarism ! 
The  spirit  of  such  scepticism  is  as  a  malaria  con- 
tracted from  the  habit  of  digging  drains  in  poison- 
ous valleys,  or  mining  for  gold  in  arsenical  locaUties. 
John  Bunyan  has  set  Demas,  spade  in  hand,  at  such 
grounds,  inviting  passers-by  to  come  and  see  and 
enrich  themselves.  If  we  ask  Christ  to  go  out  of 
the  country  as  a  sorcerer,  and  search  the  Scriptures 
to  prove  fhem  the  work  of  impostors,  the  devils  them- 
selves will  assume  the  texts,  out  of  which  we  have 
endeavored  to  exorcise  the  truth  of  God,  and  enter- 
ing into  our  souls  will  carry  us  down  steep  places 
into  the  abyss.  There  is  a  formidable  jn-ecedent  of 
such  retribution  in  kind.  "  The}'  have  belied  the 
Lord,  and  said,  It  is  not  He,  neither  sluill  evil  come 
upon  us.  Wherefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts, 
Because  ye  speak  this  Avord,  behold  I  will  make  my 
words  in  thy  mouth  fire,  and  this  people  wood,  and 


2^6         Faith,  Do7ibt,  and  Evidence. 

it  shall  devour  them." — Jer.  v.  12,  14.  God's  mean- 
ing can  be  gotten  only  from  Grod's  words;  and  God's 
words  must  be  accej^ted  and  believed  as  His,  or  both 
the  meaning  and  the  words  are  denied  as  a  forgery. 
Although  the  things  recorded  in  the  gospels  are 
such  as  God's  omniscience  alone  could  have  certified, 
yet  we  find  men  continually  seeking  some  source  of 
information  other  than  divine,  some  human  witness 
to  rely  upon,  that  may  render  the  divine  unnecessary. 
Strange  inconsistency,  and  unaccountable  unwilling- 
ness to  depend  on  God,  our  only  fovmtain  of  immu- 
table and  soul-saving  truth.  "Who  could  reveal  God's 
thoughts,  or  Christ's  kno\^ledge  of  them,  and  of  His 
own  mind,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  only  ?  This  is  Paxil's 
argument  of  an  infallible  insj^iration  both  of  thoughts 
and  words.  It  is  incontestible.  Take  for  instance,  in 
Matt.  xiv.  23,  a  single  example  among  many  such  of 
an  incident,  the  knowledge  of  which  could  have  been 
obtained  only  from  the  Lord  Jesus.  Whenever  and 
by  whomsoever  recorded,  it  must  leave  been  bij  revdatiuu 
and  inspiration  from  Him;  for  He  only  knew,  when  He 
had  sent  the  multitudes  away,  that  He  Himself  went 
up  into  a  mountain  to  pray,  and  that  when  the  even- 
ing was  come  He  was  there  alone.  The  record  of 
these  facts  was  never  from  tradition,  or  information 
T)y  any  witness,  or  from  au}-  one  to  whom  the  Lord 
had  told  that  He  went  uj)  into  the  mountain  to  i)ray, 


Faith,  Dottbt,  and  Evidence.         2^"/ 

and  was  there  alone;  yet  it  was  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  be  set  down  in  this  gospel  by  Matthew,  for 
the  instruction  of  all  mankind  in  all  ages.  It  was 
a  thing  known  to  not  a  single  human  being,  for  its 
relation  was  a  part  of  Christ's  hidden  life  of  com- 
munion with  God,  revealed  by  the  inspmng  Sj^kit. 
as  essential  to  a  full  manifestation  of  Christ  in  this 
divine,  infallible,  perfect  testimony  of  His  fulness ; 
according  Avith  John's  declaration  in  his  gospel,  xx.  31. 

Of  the  same  nature  is  the  record  in  Matt.  xxi.  23-27. 
Tlie  reasoning  of  the  chief  priests  and  elders  among 
themselves  is  supposed  by  Alford  to  have  been  origi- 
naUij  reported  b}'  Nicodemus  or  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
But  why  resort  to  such  a  supposition,  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  nuist  have  presented  these  details  of  truth  to 
the  mind  of  the  evangelist  as  a  part  of  the  inspired 
record  of  Christ's  life,  in  a  fulness  and  divine  certainty 
such  as  no  human  testimony  could  have  commanded 
or  conveyed? 

In  the  divine  Word  nothing  rests  upon  conjecture. 
But  outside  of  it  we  behold  conjectural  intermeddlers 
and  interpreters  ranging  up  and  down  for  hundreds 
of  years  to  find  places  where  they  can  fix  theu'  theod- 
olites, theu'  surveying  instruments.  Nay,  from  Moses 
to  Malachi  they  are  seeking  rest  and  finding  none, 
but  with  a  constant  contradiction  and  dispute  among 
themselves. 


2^8         Faith,  Doubly  a?td  Evidence. 

Now  by  contrast  read  II  Cor.  ii.  17,  "For  we  are 
not  as  many,  wlio  corruj^t  the  Word  of  God,  but  as 
of  sincerity,  but  as  of  God,  in  the  sight  of  God,  sjieak 
we  in  Christ."  Corrupting,  -KaitrjXe.vovrf.'i,  adulter  at  iiuj, 
to  make  profit  by  such  infecting  admixture  of  the 
human  and  uncertain  with  the  divine.  Even  as  the 
sellers  of  worthless  seed,  or  of  chicory  in  place  of 
coffee,  or  of  oak-bark  instead  of  Peruvian,  or  of  Dead 
Sea  asphaltum  instead  of  balm  of  Gilead,  plaster  of 
Paris  instead  of  wheaten  flour,  apples  of  Sodom  in- 
stead of  the  Bread  of  Life. 

But  we,  m  of  sincerifi/,  eiXiupiva/ai,  as  of  suushining 
judgment,  or  criticism  in  the  sunlight,  as  of  God,  and 
in  the  sight  of  God,  speak  we  in  Christ. 

Speak  ice  in  Chruit.  This  is  very  remarkable.  It 
is  the  closing  seal;  and  for  this  certainty,  beyond 
which  God  Himself  doth  not  go,  "  we  have  the  mind 
OF  Christ. "^ — I  Cor.  ii.  IG. 

Now  to  meet  these  imjiugners  of  the  sincerity  and 
truth  of  God's  "Word  on  their  own  ground,  reasoning 
fi'om  their  standpoint  of  suspicion,  is  to  invite  and 
justify  scepticism  instead  of  preventing  it.  To  say 
that  their  reasonings  and  conclusions  may  possibly 
be  true,  is  the  same  as  to  say  that  it  is  possible  that 
falsehood  and  forgery  may  be  the  truth,  and  that 
divine  truth  may  be  the  very  falsehood  that  these 
sceptical  critics  protend  to  demonstrate. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2^g 

But  we  can  not  in  equity  put  divine  truth  and 
human  eiTor  on  the  same  footing  of  antecedent  prob- 
abiUty  and  sincerity,  and  say  of  the  most  groundless 
and  iiTeverent  speculations,  All  this  of  course  is  jjos- 
sibly  correct.  It  would  be  as  wise  to  conclude  that 
delirium  tremens  may  possibly  be  the  normal  and 
rational  action  of  the  brain,  while  the  calm  and  tem- 
perate conclusions  of  the  man  in  perfect  health  may 
be  the  conditions  of  drunkenness  and  insanity.  Some 
men  reason  as  if  the  believers  that  the  Scriptures  are 
God's  infallible  Word  are  to  be  treated  as  the  luna- 
tics, and  the  deniers  of  God's  Word  accredited  as  the 
only  sure  prophets  and  teachers  of  mankind.  But 
what  says  the  apostle?     "Speak  we  in  Christ." 

What  Chi-ist  Himself  declared  to  be  God's  Word, 
we  can  not  set  aside  as  man's  forgery.  Contrariwise, 
for  the  honor  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  in  obedience 
to  the  claim  and  example  of  the  Lord  Jesus  in  reason- 
ing fi"om  that  Word,  it  is  our  axiom,  our  sanity,  the 
postulate  of  a  perfect  reason,  to  receive  it  as  known 
and  settled,  and  to  trust  and  obe}'  God  in  it.  In 
showing  that  it  is  not  man's  forgery,  in  demonstra- 
ting the  falsehood  of  any  learned  writer's  attempt  to 
prove  it  a  mistake,  we  can  not  suppose  an\i  jyossibililij 
of  its  being  a  forgery.  Christ  never  admitted  such 
a  supposition;  the  apostles  never  did;  but  on  the  con- 
trary postulated  the  cerlaindj  of  the  Scriptures  as  being 


26o         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

"  tvUhout  controversy; "  a  revelation  in  form  and  verity 
as  undeniable  as  the  sun,  moon  and  stars;  both  the 
written  Word  and  the  created  heavens  as  incontro- 
vertible as  the  Being  of  God.  The  deniers  of  either 
are  set  forth,  not  as  reasoners,  to  be  met  with  the  ad- 
mission that  their  theory  may  possibly  be  correct,  but 
as  fools  and  hars  against  both  conscience  and  God. 

In  j)roving  the  truths  of  astronomy  against  chance 
and  atheism,  men  of  genuine  science  can  not  atlmit 
that  of  course  the  deniers  of  God  and  of  the  creation 
may  possibly  be  right,  and  if  so,  the  demonstrations  of 
astronomy  must  be  wrong.  But  the  Word  of  God  is 
not  less  absolutely  certain  than  His  works.  A  Divine 
Christ,  and  all  that  follows  upon  His  Divinity,  are  not 
less  absolute  and  established  than  the  solar  system. 
We  rightfully  say  that  any  persons  denying  the  real- 
ity of  the  sun,  and  maintaining  that  it  was  from  the 
beginning  a  delusion,  a  fraud  upon  men's  senses,  got- 
ten up  by  lecturers,  or  grown  up  out  of  traditional 
myths,  are  so  far  forth  insane,  and  fit  subjects  for 
treatment  in  a  lunatic   asylum. 

There  are  only  two  visible  realities  known  to  the 
human  mind,  God's  Works  and  God's  Word.  The 
nineteenth  Psalm  is  a  demonstration,  setting  forth, 
first  the  Works,  second  the  Word,  as  equally  and  in- 
contestably  the  known  witnesses  for  God,  the  Word 
as  weU  known   as  the  Works.     The   quantities   and 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  261 

qualities  of  both  parts  of  the  comijarison  are  infalli- 
ble. First,  the  heavens  declare,  the  firmament  show- 
eth  forth,  day  and  night  sj)eak.  Second,  the  law  of 
the  Lord,  j)erfect,  converting  the  soul, — testimonies, 
statutes,  commandments,  judgments; — no  more  doubt 
what  they  are,  and  where  written,  than  Avhat  the  sun 
is,  and  where  set  and  seen  in  his  going  forth  and  his 
circuit.  The  sun  speaks  to  the  same  mind,  through 
the  senses;  the  written  word  speaks  to  the  soul,  as  in- 
fallibly, but  more  profoundh'.  The  119th  Psalm  is  an 
enlargement,  analysis  and  illustration  of  the  19  th,  as 
the  centi'e  of  a  crystal  is  seen  by  polarized  light.  So, 
the  Avritten  Word  is  as  a  succession  of  lenses  or  prisms 
of  continually  increasing  power,  each  successive  illu- 
mination at  once  exj)laining  what  goes  before,  and 
throwing  greater  light  upon  the  future. 

The  119th  Psalm  is  an  eminent  example  of  the  na- 
ture of  that  prayerful  meditation  on  the  Divine  Law, 
which  was  requu'ed  of  king,  priest,  and  people,  by  the 
Lawgiver,  and  was  announced  to  be  the  only  way  of 
understanding  its  meaning,  in  order  to  obey  God,  and 
attain  holiness  and  ]ife.  But  if  the  law  itself  was  only 
"  secular,"  and  contained  no  revelation  of  forgiveness 
through  Christ,  no  foreshowing  of  His  atoning  sacri- 
fice, no  revelation  of  a  future  life,  or  of  the  soul's  re- 
sponsibility to  God  as  everlasting;  then  the  prayers, 
meditations,    and   studies   demanded   were  worthless 


262         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

chaff,  unworthy  both  of  God  and  man.  But  the  med- 
itations of  which  this  psahii  is  such  an  exquisite  ex- 
ample, wei'e  of  thoughts  and  things  in  that  case  not 
required  by  the  law,  not  at  all  to  be  discovered  in  it, 
but  altogether  suj^erior  to  it;  a  piety  infinitely  above 
that  of  the  law,  and  profound  and  heavenly  beyond 
all  precedent. 

But  this  psalm  does  not  refer  to  any  tradition  or 
rule  of  heart,  or  of  external  moraht}',  outside  the  law, 
nor  to  any  other  authority  for  the  conscience  towards 
God.  It  knows  nothing  but  God's  Word,  God's  writ- 
ten commandments,  as  the  fountain  of  wisdom,  the 
guide  and  protector  of  the  soul.  "  Blessed  are  the  un- 
defiled  in  the  way,  who  walk  in  the  law  of  the  Lord." 

And  these  divine  experiences,  whenever  and  where- 
ever  we  find  them,  in  any  age,  are  God's  incontesta- 
ble vouchers  for  His  w^-itten  Word.  Wherever  there 
is  discovered  the  love  of  God  and  man,  there  God  has 
been  working  with  His  Word  and  Si:)irit,  ujion  and  in 
the  human  soul.  There  is  the  knowledge  of  God's 
salvation,  and  the  heart  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
God.  And  wherever  there  is  the  seeking  of  Him  by 
His  Word,  there  is  the  finding  of  Him.  For  eternally 
"  with  Thee  is  the  fountain  of  life,  and  in  Thy  light 
shall  we  see  light." 

The  law  was  ceremonial,  ritual,  sacrificial,  spu'itual, 
in  its  fixtures,  types,  precepts,  worship,  prayers  and 


Faithy  Doitbty  and  Evidetice.         26j 

I>raises.  It  presented  the  ■way  of  acceptance  vriih.  God, 
through  a  divine  atoning  Saviour,  by  remission  of  sins, 
through  His  blood,  by  pardoning  grace  through  faith 
ill  God's  mercy,  sought  with  the  confessions  of  the 
penitent  soul. 

•'My  faith  would  lay  her  hand 

On  that  dear  head  of  thine, 

While  like  a  penitent  I  stand 

And  there  confess  my  sin." 

The  language  of  Watts'  exquisite  Ip'ic,  applied  to 
the  types  of  Christ  among  the  Old  Hebrews,  and  to 
their  knowledge  of  the  sacred  everlasting  meaning,  as 
taught  by  the  Spirit  at  the  mercy  seat,  is  not  exag- 
gerated. /  have  xvaifed  for  Thtj  salvation,  was  no  mere 
figure  of  speech  \>'ith  Jacob  on  his  dying  bed,  nor  with 
Moses  in  the  wilderness;  but  that  salvation  was  the 
indwelling  light  and  glory  of  the  Lord,  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  forever,  by  the  Divine  Spirit  revealing  it. 

"Thy  testimonies  are  wonderful;  therefore  doth 
my  soul  keep  them.  Thy  righteousness  is  an  evei'- 
lasting  righteousness,  and  Thy  law  is  the  truth.  The 
righteousness  of  Thy  testimonies  is  everlasting;  give 
me  understanding,  and  I  shall  live.  Thy  Word  is 
tme  from  the  beginning,  and  everj'  one  of  Thy  right- 
eous judginents  endureth  forever.  I  have  longed  for 
Th\i  sah'alion,  0  Lord,  and  Thy  law  is  my  dehght." 


264         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

These  things  are  true,  onhj  as  they  are  spiritually- 
true.  The  testimonies  of  the  law  are  not  wonderful, 
if  only  of  this  world,  but  are  nugatory,  trifling,  bur- 
thensome,  if  there  is  no  eternal  meaning  in  them. 
The  righteousness  is  not  an  eA"erlastiug  righteousness, 
if  onh^  of  this  life.  The  testimonies  did  )iol  endure 
forever,  if  there  was  no  immortality  in  them,  as  there 
certainly  was  not,  nor  any  immortal  meaning,  if  given 
to  creatui'es  Avho  had  no  knowledge  of  their  own  im- 
mortality, nor  of  any  virtue  or  reward  beyond  the 
grave.  It  was  unutterable  scorn,  iron}',  cruelty,  if 
commands  were  laid  on  creatures  who  could  by  no 
possibihty  understand  their  meaning,  nor  ai:)prehend 
their  own  resjionsibility  in  regard  to  them,  nor  be 
made  to  know  and  appreciate  their  solemn  weight, 
any  more  than  men  born  bhnd  could  be  made  to 
know  colors.  "Beware  that  you  act  always  with 
reference  to  the  red  or  the  violet,  or  the  whole  rain- 
bow, on  pain  of  misery  and  ruin,"  would  be  a  di- 
rection quite  as  rational  to  a  man  born  blind,  as  "  Act 
for  another  life,"  would  be  to  men  without  the  knowl- 
edge of  immortality. 

This  knowledge  was  ever  an  accumulating  power 
of  the  Divine  Revelation,  which  indeed  was  nothing 
without  it;  no  foretold  Saviour  without  it,  nor  any 
possibility  of  foreteUing  or  typifying  Him,  or  making 
men   feel    His   worth,    or   their   need   of   Him.     The 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         26^ 


knowledge  of  guilt  by  the  law,  both  of  duty  aud  sac- 
rifice, was  always  foretelling  Christ,  from  Adam  to 
Abraham,  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from  Moses  to 
Christ;  an  accumulation  of  expei'ience  and  belief  in 
every  successive  stage  of  God's  disclosures  to  man- 
kind.* 


XXXIII. 

BELIEF  IN  CHRIST  DOES  AWAY  WITH  UNCERTAIN- 
TIES—PAUL'S METHOD  WITH  THE  ROMANS  AND 
GALATIANS— NO  APOLOGY  FOR  THE  POSITIVENESS 
OF  THE  SCRIPTURES  EVER  IMAGINED  OR  ATTEMPT- 
ED-REFERENCES TO  THE  WHOLE  OF  ISAIAH  AS 
BEING  ONE  AND  THE  SAME  INSPIRED  BOOK,  BY  ONE 
AND  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 

Since  Christ  has  come,  aud  died  for  our  sins,  ac- 
cording to  the  Scriptures,  and  was  buried,  and  rose 
again,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  we  have  done 
with  uncertainties  and  things  that  could  be  shaken. 
"Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  words 
shall  not  pass  awaj'."  Matt.  xxiv.  35.  "What  I  tell 
you  in  darkness  that  speak  ye  in  light;  and  what  ye 

•  See  on  this  subject  the  admirable  and  satisfactory  reasoning 
of  Dr.  W.  L.  Alexander  iu  his  second  and  third  "Congrega- 
tional Lectures,  on  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  State  in  the  Old 
Testament,  ajid  on  the  Critciia  of  Messianic  Proijhccy." 


266         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

^spiritually 
hear  in  the  eax,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  h  - 

'onderful, 
Matt.   X.   27.     It   is   therefore  the   primal  2?>.^ 

.  .  .         ,  -,       %  \mx~ 

canon  of  a  just  cnticism,  that  loe  accept  and  prcf^ 

them. 
Scfij^ures  as  Ghrhit  and  His  apodles  pressed  them,\ 

hesitatingly,  doubtfully,  or  apologetically,  but  ag- 
gressively, "  boldly,  as  we  ought  to  speak,"  from  God, 
as  God's  Word,  not  man's,  I  Thess.  ii.  13;  "bringing 
into  captivity  ece)^xj  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 
n  Cor.  X.  5.  "  Not  handhng  the  Word  of  God  deceit- 
fully, but  by  manifestation  of  the  truth,  commending  our- 
selves to  eveiy  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God." 
II  Cor.  iv.  2.  "  All  this,  for  obedience  to  the  faith  among 
all  nations,  for  His  (Christ's)  name."  Rom.  i.  5.  We 
KNOW  that  the  Son  of  God  is  come,  and  hath  given  us 
an  understanding,  that  we  may  know  Him  that  is  true; 
and  we  are  in  Hun  that  is  time,  even  in  His  Son  Je- 
sus Christ.  This  is  the  true  God  akd  Eternal  Life." 
I  John  V.  20. 

With  the  same  awful  and  adjuring  cei-tainty  Paul 
speaks  those  solemn  words  to  the  Galatians,  i.  8,  9, 
11, 12 — "  Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  preach 
any  other  gospel  unto  you  than  that  which  we  have 
preached  unto  you,  let  liim  be  acciu'sed.  As  we  said 
before,  so  say  I  now  tig-Jiin,  If  any  man  preach  any 
other  gospel  vrnto  you  than  that  ye  have  received, 
let  him  be  accursed.  But  I  ceiiify  you,  brethren,  that 
the  gospel  which  was  preached  of  me  is  not  after 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         26J 


man.  For  I  neither  received  it  of  men,  neither  Avas 
I  taught  it,  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Clirist." 
Nothin-  but  a  known  infaUible  inspiration  could  have 
justified  this;  nothing  less  could  have  constrained  the 
Galatians  to  admit  its  truth  as  indisputable. 

The  same  is  the  indestructible  logic  of  Paul  in  the 
comparison  of  Rom.  iii.  5,  G,  and  Gen.  xviii.  25,  Avith 
Rom.  xiv.   10,   11,  and   Isa.   xlv.   23,   concerning  the 
certainty,  equity,  and  individuaHty  of  God's  judgment 
of  mankind.     Paul  quotes  Abraham,  David,  and  Isaiah, 
for  the  certainty  that  we  shaU  all  stand  before  the 
judgment  seat  of  Christ.     So  then,  adds  Paul,  after 
God's   oath  as  given  in  Isaiah,   "««  /  /,Yv,  milh  the 
Lord;'  synonymous  with,  "  I  have  sworn  by  myself," 
—so  then,  "every  one  of  us  shaU  give  account  of  him- 
self to  God."     The  incidental  proofs,  and  coincidental, 
from  Abraham  to  Christ,  of  a  verbal  inspiration,  om- 
niscient, infallible,   are   decisive.     And  more  notably 
than   any  thing   else,  here   is   a   deduction  by  Paul 
fi-om  one  of  the  very  chapters  of  Isaiah  pronounced 
by  rationalists  to  have  been  a  forgery;  a  deduction 
m   God's   name,  from   Isaiah's  own  ANTiting,  in  that 
chapter,   as   the   Lord's   own  words,    of  so  infinitely 
important  a  truth,  that  it  could  be  known  only  by 
God's  written  revelation. 

Of  the  same  nature  is  the  method  of  Paul  with  the 
objector  in  Rom.  ix.  20,  covering  the  whole  Striplures; 


268         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  intimated  as  to  the  unde- 
niable authority  and  righteous  sovereignty  of  those 
Scriptures.  The  j^ostulate  assumed  by  the  apostle  is 
this,  that  the  Scriptures  are  God  Himself  speaking  to 
mankind. 

"Nay,  but  0  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against 
God  ?  "  This  is  Paul's  argument  of  absolute,  unquali- 
fied loyalty  to  God.  It  is  not  a  resort  to  avoid  argu- 
ment, or  to  suj^ply  the  jDlace  of  demonstration;  nor  is 
it  the  evasion  of  a  difficulty,  as  by  a  fire-escape  from  a 
building  in  flames.  But  it  is  submission  to  the  high- 
est reason;  and  to  this  incontestable  truth,  namely, 
that  God  has  spoken,  and  that  these  written  pages  of 
the  Old  Testament,  to  which  the  apostle  brings  all  his 
own  reasonings  to  be  tested  and  decided,  are  the  ulti- 
mate and  supreme  ai:)peal,  the  very  "Word  of  God,  the 
reasoning  of  God,  not  to  be  gainsayed,  nor  the  abso- 
lute justice  and  authority  of  it  questioned.  It  may 
be,  it  mud  be,  in  some  respects,  inscrutable,  but  not 
therefore  to  be  denied.  In  this  single  vhaplcr  Paul 
quotes  from  and  refers  to  Moses,  Genesis,  Exodus, 
Psalms,  Isaiah,  Hosea,  Joel,  Nahum,  Jeremiah  and 
Malachi;  a  most  remarkable,  incontrovei'tible  concen- 
tration of  Divine  testimonies ! 

"  Eepliesl  against  God ! "  Observe  the  underlying 
granite  on  which  Paul  thus  rests  all  things,  all  the 
upbuildings  of  human  reasoning.     It  is  this,  namely, 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  26g 

that  the  Scriptures  are  "  God  Hbmelf  sjyealiiK/,"  and 
consequently  that  men  who  argue  agamst  them  are 
disputing-  not  a  doubtful  record,  but  GofV.^  oicn  Words. 
There  is  no  apology  imagined  or  attemjited,  no  sup- 
position of  a  j^ossible  uncertainty  or  mistake  ;  but 
there  is  the  affirmation  of  its  being  God's  Word,  along 
■with  the  certainty  that  it  is  imj)ossible  for  God  to  he. 
To  this  impossibility  Paul  elsewhere  refers,  in  consid- 
ering the  particular  jiromises  of  God,  on  which  the 
whole  i^ossibility  of  our  salvation  rests,  as  for  example, 
in  Heb.  vi.  12-20.  To  the  same  purpose,  compare 
II  Peter  i.  4,  IG,  21,  and  II  Cor.  i.  20-22,  and  ii.  17, 
and  I  Cor.  ii.  4,  5.  All  these  quotations  proceed  on 
the  same  divine  principle  as  the  last,  namely,  that 
"  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men, 
but  in  the  power  of  God." 

The  same  argument  is  very  strong  (the  more  so 
for  being  incidental),  contained  in  Romans  xv.  4-21. 
"  For  u-Jiat.ioever  things  were  writlea  aforetime,  were  Avrit- 
ten  for  our  learning,  that  we,  through  jMlience  and  com- 
fort of  the  Scrijytures,  might  have  hoj^e."  "Now  I  say 
that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for 

THE    TRUTH    OF    GoD,  to  Confirm  THE    PROMISES    MADE  UNTO 

THE  FATHERS,  and  that  the  Gentiles  might  glorify  God 
for  His  mercy,  as  it  is  written.  For  this  cause  I  will 
confess  to  Thee  among  the  Gentiles  and  sing  unto 
Thy  name  "  (Ps.  xviii.  49).    And  again  He  s.uth  (Deut. 


2^0         Faith,  Do2ibt,  and  Evidence. 

xxxii.  43),  aud  again  (Ps.  cxvii.  1),  and  again,  Emim 
milk  (Is.  xi.  1,  10).  "  Now  the  God  of  liojoe  fill  yovi 
with  all  jo  J  and  peace  in  believing,  that  ye  may 
abound  iu  hope,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

This  particular  bundle  of  quotations  closes,  very 
significantl}',  with  one  from  Is.  lii.  15,  vmder  this 
formiila,  Bat  a.s  it  is  uiriUen,  the  formula  of  God's 
"Word.  Nothing  less  than  a  plenary  verbal  insjiira- 
tion  is  demonstrated  in  this  reasoning,  so  far  as  such 
inspiration  was  requisite  for  the  complete  infallible 
conveyance  of  all  the  truth  necessary'  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  God's  i^romises  in  the  salvation  of  the  soul. 
And  it  is  remarkable  that  here,  as  elsewhere,  Paul 
quotes  equaEy  from  the  earlier  and  later  chapters  of 
Isaiah,  as  being  the  same  unquestionable  Word  of 
God,  by  the  same  insj^ired  writer. 

We  have  therefore  in  our  possession,  beyond  dlxpule, 
what  God  has  revealed:  (a)  infallible  because  it  is 
God's  Word;  and  {b)  what  God  has  said  can  not  be 
contradicted,  as  if  it  were  fallible;  for  (c)  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  God  to  lie.  The  supposition  therefore  of  this 
Word  not  being  divinely  inspired,  not  God's  Word,  and 
consequentl}'  that  it  may  projierl}'  be  reasoned  against 
as  false  or  mistaken,  has  two  points  or  qualities  of 
blasphemy.  (1)  It  is  accusing  God  of  injustice  (why 
doth  he  yet  lind  fault  ?)  if  it  be  admitted  that  this  is 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2'/i 

the  Word  of  God;  (2)  of  lying,  if  it  be  asserted  that 
this  is  nol  His  Word.  For  it  is  an  axiom  determined 
by  Christ,  and  reasoned  from  by  John,  "  that  he  that 
belie veth  not  the  record  that  God  gave  of  JIU  Son,  hath 
made  God  a  liar."  The  record  is  known;  the  man 
that  disputes  it  disputes  God,  and  he  who  denies  it 
denies  God;  not  simpl^^  affirms  that  He  is  mistaken, 
but  makes  Him  a  liar. 


XXXIV. 


GOD'S  OWN  VOUCHERS  UNIMPEACHABLE,  CUMULA- 
TIVE, AND  STILL  EVOLVING  FROM  GENERATION 
TO   GENERATION. 

The  study  of  the  human  eye  does  not  more  certain- 
ly demonstrate  an  infallible  designing  and  omuiiDotent 
mind,  than  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  an  infallible 
and  omniscient  inspireu  and  truth-teller.  And  God's 
vouchers  for  the  truth  of  His  Word  are  among  all 
l^roofs  ever  addressed  to  the  human  reason  the  most 
infallible,  the  most  incontrovertible,  the  most  judi- 
ciously grounded  and  reasonably  accepted,  and  con- 
firmed, of  all  things  known  in  history  and  science, 
•whether  moral  or  i)hysical.  They  are  (first  of  all), 
prophetic;  the  undisputed  record  of  jjredidions,   out 


2^/2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

of  wliicli,  and  hecaiiae  of  Avhicli,  the  events  took  place 
that  have  changed  the  face  and  state  of  the  Avhole 
■world;  theu'  fulfilment  demonstrating  the  infallible 
truth  and  presence  of  God  through  every  step  of  the 
process.  (2),  Providential,  and  successively  evolved 
hy  far-off  long-working,  and  sometimes  secret  or  un- 
noticed causes,  that  at  length  come  forth  in  majesty 
and  joower;  the  successions  known  and  visible,  and 
as  important  and  indivisible,  as  the  knitting  of  ball- 
and-socket  joints,  or  the  vertebrae  in  the  human  anat- 
omy. (3),  Both  historical  and  monumental,  as  of  the 
work  of  creation,  finished  with  man  created  in  God's 
image,  and  the  seventh  day  blessed  and  sanctified,  as 
the  memorial  epoch  of  God's  rest,  and  the  governing 
day  of  man's  worshij),  and  as  such,  set  in  the  Deca- 
logue. Then  (4),  the  sovereign  authority  and  lord- 
ship of  that  day,  assumed  by  the  Son  of  God,  on 
earth  and  in  heaven,  as  Lord  or  the  Sabc.vth,  for 
the  work  of  man's  new  creation  and  redemption. 

Already,  that  divine  authority,  and  Christ's  om- 
nipotence and  omniscience  in  declaring  it,  are  facts 
of  history,  fulfilling  His  predictions,  that  could  neither 
have  been  conceived  nor  uttered  by  any  mere  man, 
nor  sanctioned  by  the  event,  but  from  God.  Then 
(5),  historic,  prophetic,  commemorative,  and  disci- 
plinary aU  at  once,  of  individual  character,  and  na- 
tional industry  and  trust  in  God,  as  in  the  wonderful 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2jj 

jubilee  enactments;  so  that  tlie  seventh  day  was  a 
jubilee  of  rest  and  freedom  for  God's  jDraise,  and 
the  seventh  year  a  jubilee  of  liberty  and  love,  and  the 
fiftieth  3'ear,  a  jubilee  of  jubilees,  such  as  no  uniu- 
spii'ed  thought  ever  could  have  imagined,  and  none 
but  a  divinely  authorized  lawgiver  would  have  ever 
dared  to  jiromulgate;  but  in  all  of  which,  if  the  peo- 
ple would  but  rest  on  God,  God  would  renew  and 
perpetuate  His  miracvdous  protection  of  them  in  the 
sight  of  all  nations.  Connected  with  these,  and  parts 
of  the  same  system,  the  personal  freedom-enactments, 
forbidding  slavery,  and  the  land-owning  policies  and 
laws  of  estates  never  to  be  alienated,  with  the  vast 
results  depending  upon  the  people's  faithfulness  to 
them,  or  disobedience  of  them.  These  are  shown  with 
great  power,  in  comj)aring  Ex.  xxi.  2,  xxiii.  10,  11,  12. 
and  Deut.  xv.  12,  with  Jer.  xxxiv.  13-17,  and  xxv.  11, 
and  II  Chron.  xxxvi.  21,  and  Lev.  xxv.  2-22,  and  xxvi, 
34,  35,  43.  Let  all  these  passag"es  be  compared  with 
Daniel  ix.  2,  and  let  it  be  considered  with  what  irre- 
sistible strength  of  conviction  the  phrase  in  Leviticus 
and  Chronicles  of  "the  land  enjoying  her  Sabbaths,"' 
a  phrase  illuminated  in  Babylon  like  the  handwriting 
on  Belshazzar's  palace,  must  have  grasj^ed  and  fired 
the  conscience  of  the  people.  For  they  wept  in  an- 
guish beneath  the  punishment  of  their  sins,  by  the 
terrific  judgments  of  God  for  their  disobedience  of 


2^4-         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence: 

His  commands,   and  idolatrous  distrust  of  His  pro- 
tection.* 

If  the  Jews  neglected  to  keep  tlie  jubilees  com- 
manded of  God,  and  had  so  profaned  the  sacredness 
both  of  land  and  law,  to  the  amount  of  seventy  years, 
thus  denying  the  authority  and  righteousness  of  God's 
own  statutes,  and  setting  an  example  of  contempt  and 
infidelity  in  the  sight  of  all  the  surrounding  nations, 
who  were  always  watching  the  Hebrews  with  idola- 
trous hatred  and  jealousy,  God  would  certainly,  ac- 
cording to  His  predictions  by  Moses,  punish  them  ia 

*  The  personification  in  Leviticus  is  that  of  a  hoty  woman, 
consecrated  to  God's  service  and  glory,  hut  defrauded  of  her  Sab- 
baths, and  so  of  her  sacred  worship  and  rest.  Because  of  this  des- 
ecration and  denial  of  God,  "your  land  shall  be  desolate  and 
your  cities  waste.  Then  shall  the  land  enjoy  her  Sabbaths,  as 
long  as  it  lieth  desolate,  and  ye  be  in  your  enemies'  land;  then 
shall  the  land  rest,  and  enjoy  her  Sabbaths.  As  long  as  it  lieth 
desolate  it  shall  rest;  because  it  did  not  rest  in  your  Sabbaths  when 
ye  dwelt  upon  it.  Therefore,  they  that  are  left  of  you  shall  pine 
away  in  their  iniquity  in  your  enemies'  laud.  The  laud  also 
shall  be  left  of  them,  and  shall  enjoy  her  Sabbaths,  while  she 
lietli  desolate  without  them :  and  they  shall  accept  of  the  punish- 
ment of  their  iniquity:  because,  even  because  they  despised  my 
judgments,  and  because  their  soul  abhorred  my  statutes."— Lev. 
xxvi.  ' '  To  fulfil  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  the  mouth  of  Jere- 
miah, until  the  land  had  enjoyed  her  Sabbaths:  for  as  loug  as  she  lay 
desolate,  she  kept  her  Sabbath  to  fulfil  three  score  and  ten  years." 
II  Chrou.  xxxvi.  21. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2y^ 

kind,  and  openly,  and  would  make  it  known  as  clear 
as  the  sun  why  He  did  it.  The  soil  illegally,  unbe- 
lievingly and  selfislily  tilled,  without  tithes  for  God 
and  the  poor,  through  seventy'  years,  and  the  Sab- 
baths polluted,  and  God  and  the  world  robbed  and 
defrauded,  and  idolatry  preferred  and  sanctioned, 
should  be  followed  b}'  a  seventy  years'  desolation  and 
anathema  of  the  land,  under  a  seventy  years'  trans- 
portation and  captivity  of  its  inhabitants.  God  woiild 
give  them  over  to  the  despotism  of  "  statutes  that  icere 
not  good  ;  "  idolatrous  laws  and  customs,  in  the  dread- 
ful experience  of  which,  their  own  iniquities  should 
make  them  loiow  the  difference  between  God  and 
Moloch.  Let  any  reader  compare  the  first  nine  chap- 
ters of  Jeremiah,  also  chapters  xxxiv.  and  xhv.,  with 
Ezekiel  v.  5-10,  and  xii.  19,  20,  and  xx.  23-30,  and 
xxii.  15,  10,  31,  and  xxxvi.  17-21;  and  instead  of 
wondering  at  the  severity  of  God,  he  wiU  adore  with 
gratitude  and  love,  the  infinite  riches  of  His  patience, 
long-suffering,  and  tender  mercy,  and  will  take  for 
the  hturgy  of  his  own  soul,  David's  103d  Psalm, 
Hosea's  14th  chapter,  and  Paul's  11th  to  the  Eomans. 
Behold  therefore  the  goodness  and  severity  of  God ! 
O  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in  me  is  thy 
help!  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  God !  How  unsearchable  are  His 
judgments,  and  His  ways  past  finding  out ! 


2^6         Faith,  Douht,  and  Evidence. 

"Will  ca  man  rob  God?  "  asks  tlie  iiro2:)liet  Malaclii: 
"Yet  ye  have  robbed  me,  even  this  whole  nation." 
""If  I  be  a  Father,  where  is  mine  honor?"  Had  the 
Jews  kept  these  institutes  without  interruption,  the 
miracle  of  God's  protection  would  have  been  an  irre- 
sistible demonstration  to  all  nations.  "And  all  na- 
tions shall  call  you  blessed,  for  ye  shall  be  a  delight- 
some land,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  The  irregularity 
and  neglect  of  these  institutes  was  a  robbery  not  only 
of  God,  but  of  the  whole  heathen  idolatrous  world; 
being  defrauded  of  divine  truth,  by  the  disobedience 
of  that  royal  priesthood,  to  whom  God  had  intrusted 
His  oracles.  Yet  our  Lord's  first  sermon  in  Nazareth 
(Luke  iv.  18,  19),  is  a  i:»roof  from  Isaiah,  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  jubilees  in  the  era  of  that  jDrophet,  and 
of  the  complete  fulfilment  of  their  spiritual  meaning 
by  Christ's  Word;  "this  day  is  this  Scrii^ture  fulfilled 
in  your  ears."  The  testimony  of  Tacitus  and  Josephus 
proves  also  the  known  reality  in  their  time,  of  the  Sab- 
batical institutions,  enactments  and  observances.* 

*  See  "Josephus'  Antiquities,"  book  xiv.  cb.  10.,  sec.  G. 
"Cuius  Ctesar,  Imperator  the  second  time,  hath  ordained,  that 
all  the  country  of  the  Jews,  excepting  Joppa,  do  pay  a  tribute 
yearly  for  one  city  of  JeniRalem,  excepting  the  Kevcuth,  which 
they  call  the  Sabbatical  Year,  because  iltereln  they  neither  receive 
the  fruits  of  their  trees,  nor  do  they  sow  thtir  land,"  etc. 

Cjmpare  also,   "Tacitus'  History,"  book  v.  sec.  4,  5.     "The 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2'j'/ 

Past  finding  out,  and  therefore  inevitably  a  progres- 
sive searching  and  tli.scovery  through  eternity,  both 
in  God's  Word  and  works,  both  in  theological  and 
what  is  called  natural  science.  But  in  neither  can 
there  be  any  possibility  of  progress,  except  by  faith 
in  God  the  Creator  and  Redeemer,  and  by  that  divine 
rule — "In   Thy  light  shall  tee  see  light." — Ps.  xxxvi.  9. 

Consider  the  examples  of  incalculable  minuteness 
and  perfection  in  God's  works,  discovered  onl}'^  by 
microscopic  research  in  the  organized  material  uni- 
verse; such  as  the  predictions  in  a  seed,  the  discovery 

seventh  day  is  sacred  to  rest,  for  on  that  day  their  labors  ended; 
and  such  Is  their  natural  propensity  to  sloth,  that  in  consequence  of  it, 
every  seventh  year  is  devoted  to  repose  and  sluggish  inactivity."  It 
is  remarkable  that  Tacitus  notes  the  Jewish  belief  in  immortality 
and  a  state  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  as  similar  to  that 
of  the  Egj'ptians.  "  With  that  people  they  agree  in  their  belief 
of  a  future  state;  they  have  the  same  notion  of  departed  spirits, 
the  same  solicitude  and  the  same  doctrine.  With  regard  to  the 
Deity,  their  creed  is  diflferent.  The  Eg5'ptiaus  worship  various 
animals,  and  also  certain  symbolical  representations,  which  are 
the  work  of  man;  the  Jews  acknoicledge  one  God  only,  and  Him 
they  see  in  the  mind's  eye,  and  Him  they  adore  in  contemplation, 
condemning,  as  impious  idolaters,  all  who,  with  perishable  ma- 
terials, wrought  into  the  human  form,  attempt  to  give  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Deity.  The  God  of  the  Jews  is  the  great  gov- 
erning Mind,  that  directs  and  guides  the  whole  fi-ame  of  nature, 
eternal,  infinite,  and  neither  capable  of  change,  nor  subject  to 
decav." 


2y8         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

of  four  hundred  lenses  in  the  ej'e  of  the  trilobite, — in 
that  of  the  common  flj-,  fourteen  thousand,  and  mul- 
titudes of  instances  if  possible  more  wonderful.  But 
the  forces,  springs,  and  attachments  in  the  spir- 
itual universe,  binding  God's  infinite  j^lans,  pur- 
jjoses,  thoughts,  words  and  works,  in  an  eternal 
unity,  must  be  immeasurably  more  marvellous;  and 
they  are  referred  to  and  exemplified  in  part,  in  such 
psalms  as  the  78th,  those  from  the  104th  to  107th, 
also  the  139th  and  147th.  And  in  Isaiah,  take  the 
chapters  from  the  45th  to  the  55th  inclusive,  how 
overwhelming  the  array  of  internal  evidences,  beyond 
all  possibility  of  human  origin,  or  arrangement,  or 
motive !  God's  vouchers  are  ever  and  anon  unex- 
pectedly brought  into  the  sunlight  by  scientific  in- 
vestigations of  the  globe  itself:  the  testimony  of 
geology  to  the  suijernatural  foresight  and  insj^iration 
of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  has  become  an  illus- 
trious example.  The  deciphered  rock  and  brick  li- 
braries and  wall-engravings  of  the  ancient  buried 
cities,  Babylon,  Nineveh,  Thebes,  the  sepidehres,  the 
temples,  are  indestructible  vouchers  for  the  "Word  of 
God.  And  it  is  remarkable  that  theii"  discovery  and 
interpretation  should  have  been  reserved,  through  so 
many  ages  of  ignorance,  to  a  period  of  wide-spread 
information,  but  also  of  popular  and  plausible  attack 
ag-aiust  the   S3ri;)ta:-e;j,  ja^I;   wlieu   the  perfection  of 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2'jg 

scientific  iustruments,  erudition,  and  sagacity,  ad- 
vancing gradually  through  so  many  centuries  of  ex- 
periment and  conjecture,  could  be  brought  to  bear 
ui:)on  the  prejudices,  unbehefs,  and  miAeliefo  of  men. 

Bishop  Stniingfleet  in  his  "  Origines  Sacr3,"  an  inex- 
haustible mine  of  vast  and  accurate  learning,  com- 
bined with  powerful  reasoning  and  deep  piety,  has 
laid  down,  towards  the  conclusion  of  his  great  work, 
(vol.  ii.  pp.  521,  524)  a  canon  of  exegetical  criticism  as 
to  the  treatment  of  asserted  contradictions  in  the 
Scrii^tures,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more  just, 
though  instanced  by  him  particularly  in  chronologi- 
cal difficulties.  He  says,  "Although  the  opinions  of 
chronologers  are  like  the  cUy  docks  ivhich  seldom  agree, 
yet  some  come  nearer  the  time  of  the  day  than  others 
do;  and  therefore  you  ought  to  examine  and  comjiare 
them,  before  you  pronounce  so  peremi^torily  about 
contradictions  in  Scriptui'e,  which  you  have  no  reason 
to  do,  till  you  find  that  no  one  h}-j)othesis  among  them 
will  serve  to  free  the  Scrij)ture  from  contradiction :  for 
otherwiae  you  do  but  blame  the  sun  because  you  can  not 
make  the  clocks  agree." 

In  this  age  of  vast  missionaiy  enterprises  and  re- 
sponsibilities, God  opens  to  His  sei'vants,  as  never  be- 
fore, "  the  treasures  of  darkness,  and  the  hidden  riches 
of  secret  places."  This  is  seen  in  the  accumulating 
develoj^ments  of  truth  both  in  His  Word  and  His  works. 


2So         Faith,  Doiibt,  and  Evidence. 

But  as  all  genuine  progress  in  science  depends,  (1), 
On  the  sincerit}^  and  accuracy  of  the  investigator,  in 
the  study  of  the  xmrhs  of  an  achwwiedged  Creator,  as 
in  the  exani})les  of  Newton,  Farada^^,  Agassiz;  and  (2), 
On  the  discovery  and  proof  of  /ac/s,  and  the  inductions 
from  them,  not  by  conjecture,  but  demonstration; — so 
all  true  progress  in  theology  depends  on  the  earnest, 
accurate  search  of  God's  own  Word,  ivilh  prauerfor  His 
guidance.  And  he  who  has  the  closest  communion  with 
God,  and  the  strongest  and  most  absolute  faith  in  Him, 
and  in  the  unity  of  His  works  and  Word,  will  be  the 
most  i^rogressive,  whether  in  science  or  theology,  and 
in  both  to  the  same  great  end,  that  all  men  may  learn 
to  glorify  God  and  enjoy  Him  forever.  For  neither 
in  the  works  nor  in  the  Word  of  God  is  there  any  pos- 
sibility of  contradiction,  or  mistake,  or  falsehood,  or 
any  thing  but  love,  truth,  and  goodness.  For  God  is 
love,  and  God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at 
all,  neither  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning.  "  For 
of  Him,  and  through  Him,  and  to  Him  are  all  things: 
to  whom  be  glorv  forever.     Amen." 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2S1 


XXXY. 

FOSTER  ON  CHRISTIANITY  AND  SCIENCE  — COMBINA- 
TION AND  CONCENTRATION  OF  PROOFS  IN  THE 
COMPARISON  OF  PROPHETS  AND   HISTORIANS. 

John  Foster  was  perfectly  justified  in  affirming 
"Ihat  ChnMiamtii  stands  on  a  ground  so  independent 
of  science,  thai  nothing  xoithin  the  jMssihilify  of  scien- 
tific speculation  and  discovery  can  essentially  affect  it."* 
"A  train  of  miracles,  attested  in  the  most  authorita- 
tive manner  that  is  u-ilhin  the  competence  of  history  ; 
the  evidence  of  prophecies  fulfilled,  that  the  Author  of 
Revelation  is  the  Being  xvho  sees  info  futurity ;  the 
manifestation,  in  revealed  religion,  of  a  superhuman 
knowledge  of  the  nature  and  condition  of  man;  the  adap- 
tation of  the  remedial  system  to  that  condition;  the  in- 
comparable excellence  of  the  Christian  morality;  the 
ana'ogy  between  the  icorls  of  God  and  what  claims  to 
be  the  Word  of  God;  and  the  interjxtsitions  with,  respect 
to  the  cause  and  adherents  of  religion  in  the  course  of 
the  Divine  Government  on  earth:  this  grand  coincidence 
of  verificalions  has  not  left  the  faith  of  the  disciple  of 
Christianity  at  the  mercy  of  optics  and  geometry.     He 

*  "  Review  of  '  Cbalmer's  Astronomical  Discourses,'  "  by  Fos- 
ter, in  the  "Eclectic." 


282         FaitJi,  Doubt y  and  Evidc7tcc. 

may  calmly  tell  science  to  mind  its  own  affairs,  if  it 
rliould  presume,  xcUh  prelenaiomt.  to  authoridj,  to  inter- 
fere wilh  His  religion.  He  may  content  himself  thus 
to  repel  the  arrogance  of  science,  when  it  intrudes  in 
the  spirit  of  a  proud  and  inimical  interference.  But  if, 
in  a  large  and  enlightened  contemplation,  it  is  found 
that  science  comes  to  be  in  harmony  with  religion,  and 
even  to  subserve  and  magnify  it,  such  tribute  and  al- 
liance are  by  all  means  to  be  accepted." 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  biographical  sketches 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  especially  the  record  of 
God's  communion  with  such  individuals  as  Abra- 
ham, Joseph,  Moses,  along  with  events  found  to  have 
been  the  corner-stones,  causal  origins,  and  contempo- 
rary sanctions  of  all  historj'.*     Then  there   are  the 

*  The  tricks  of  credulity  in  some  men's  minds  are  fantastic 
beyond  the  descriptions  of  Shakespeare.  We  find  Prof.  Tyndall, 
in  his  book  on  "Fragments  of  Science,"  arguing  against  the 
miracles  recorded  in  the  Okl  Testament,  as  "the  credulous 
prattle  of  the  ancients,  which,  if  it  stood  alone,  were  it  not  lo- 
cally associated  witti  words  of  imperisluMe  wisdom,  and  with  ex- 
amples of  moral  grandeur  unmatched  elsewhere  in  tlie  history  of  the 
human  race,  both  the  miracles  and  their  evidences  would  have 
long  Lvnce  ceased  to  be  the  transmitted  inheritance  of  intelli- 
gent men." 

But  who,  in  those  ancient  times  of  ignorance,  inspii-ed  the 
imperishable  wisdom,  and  the  examples  of  moral  grandeur,  and 
Becured  the  words  and  the  miracles  and  their  benevolent  pur- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  28 j 

iiionuniental,  geological,  philological,  chronological, 
aud  occasional  festival  proofs ;  the  handwriting  of 
events  that  have  scored  their  unobliterable  demon- 
strations in  the  races,  character,  and  history  of  all 
mankind.  Sometimes  all  these  signatures  of  divine 
truth  are  inextricably  interwoven  in  a  combination, 
the  idea  or  possibility  of  which,  or  the  thought  that 
the  actors  in  their  day  knew  of  it,  or  were  i:»roducing 
it,  never  entered,  nor  could  have  entered,  the  imagina- 
tion beforehand.  The  thing  is  as  entirely  a  discovery 
of  later  centuries,  as  that  of  the  continent  of  North 
America,  or  the  existence  of  coal-mines  as  a  reposi- 
tory for  fuel,  or  the  discovery  of  steam-iiowei*"  for 
navigation. 

poses  and  beneficent  effects,  as  tlie  transmitted  inheritance  of 
the  highest  intelligence  of  mankind  through  all  ages  ? 

The  same  "Scientific  Imagination"  that  rejects  the  reality  of 
a  prayer-hearing  and  miracle-working  God,  embraces  the  pos- 
sible evolution  of  a  mind  such  as  Abraham's,  as  being  the 
growth  of  matter  from  eternity  by  Natural  Selection !  And 
other  minds  growing  out  of  Abraham's,  till  the  transmitted 
inheritance  culminates  in  an  example  of  perfection  for  the  im- 
itation and  salvation  of  mankind  !  A  pattern  of  moral  gran- 
deur, which  nevertheless  is  itself  no  miracle,  but  only  a  pro- 
iedion  of  the  prattle  of  the  ancients,  from  an  unbelief  and  scorn 
otherwise  inevitable  in  the  proijress  of  science.  Is  it  within  the 
limits  of  possibility  for  combined  credulity  and  incredulity  to 
go  further  than  this  ? 


284         Faith.,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Two  of  the  most  remai-kable  instances  of  sncb  com- 
binations may  be  found,  (1)  on  comparing  the  prophe- 
cies of  Jeremiah,  chaj)s.  vii.-xlv,  and  their  indisputable 
historic  corroborations  and  consequences,  downwards 
thi-ough  the  captivity,  with  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel, 
and  the  book  of  Daniel,  chapter  ix.,  with  II  Chrou. 
xxxvi.  21,  and  Neh.,  chaps,  viii.,  ix.  No  sceptical  criti- 
cism has  ever  succeeded,  and  none  ever  can,  in  casting 
the  shadow  of  a  doubt  over  these  demonstrations. 

The  second  instance  is  equally  imj^regnable,  in  com- 
paring Lev.  xxiii.,  Deut.  xviii.,  and  Neh.  viii.  l-t,  with 
the  dedication  of  the  Temple  by  Solomon,  and  the 
words  of  Christ  in  Matt.  xxi.  13.  This  is  the  witness 
of  events,  institutions,  books,  \NTiters,  predictions,  and 
fulfilments,  through  a  thousand  years,  running  back 
from  445  before  Christ  to  1490,  the  date  of  the  ap- 
i:)ointment  of  "  the  feasts  of  the  Lord,"  in  the  wilderness. 
These  feasts  were  intended  to  be  God's  vouchers,  "  to 
bring  to  remembrance";  and  the  enumeration  of  them 
closes  with  the  i^even  daijH  feast  of  IxjolM:  "  That  your 
generations  may  know  that  I  made  the  children  of 
Israel  to  dwell  in  booths,  Avhen  I  brought  them  out 
of  the  land  of  Egypt:  I  am  the  Lord  j-our  God. 
And  Moses  declared  unto  the  children  of  Israel  the 
feasts  of  the  Lord." — Lev.  xxiii.  43,  44. 

A  thousand  years  after  this  record  we  find  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  returned  in  Jerusalem  from  the  captiv- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         28^ 

ity, — people,  priests,  Levites,  and  Ezra  the  scribe,  with 
Nehemiah  tlie  goveruoi", — reading  and  hearing  Ihe  hook 
of  the  law  of  Ifoses,  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  to 
Israel,  from  the  viorning  until  midday. — Neh.  viii.  3. 
"And  on  the  second  day  they  found  written  in  tho 
Law  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  by  Moses,  that 
the  children  of  Israel  should  dwell  in  booths,  in  the 
feast  of  the  seventh  month." — Neh.  viii.  13,  14.  Four 
hundred  years  later  we  find  Christ  in  the  temple  at 
Jerusalem,  restoring  it  by  divine  authority  to  its 
original  spirituality  and  sacredness. 

Here  the  whole  historic  record,  minute  and  undis- 
puted, is  a  voucher  of  the  strongest  possible  kind, 
interwoven  with  circumstantial  details,  impossible  to 
have  been  forged,  which  details  pres3nt  a  succession 
of  organic  proof  engravings,  and  intersections  or 
imbeddings,  as  of  insects  in  a  mass  of  amber,  or 
the  annual  growing  rings  of  forest  trees,  or  water- 
marks in  the  construction  of  the  piper  on  which  a 
will  is  written,  securing  the  dates  from  all  possibility 
of  forgery.  It  is  a  texture  of  the  vouchers  of  God's 
providence  and  grace,  combining  a  whole  nation,  with 
their  priests,  leaders,  and  scribes,  in  the  celebration 
of  a  long  interrupted  festival,  in  obedience  to  the 
law  of  God  by  Moses,  promulgated  a  thousand  years 
previous. 

In  connection  with  and  illustrative  of  this  historic 


286         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

recital,  we  take  the  corresponding  passages  from 
Kings,  Isaiah,  Haggai,  Jeremiah  xxxi.,  xxxii.,  xxxiii., 
and  Ezekiel  xx.  10-26.  The  divine  covenant,  the 
violation  of  it,  the  consequences  of  that  guilt,  and 
still  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  not  withdrawn,  but  re- 
newed, out  of  divine  compassion,  to  bring  the  nation 
and  the  individual  sinner  to  repentance.  Let  the 
reader  remember  the  revealed  characteristics  of  God's 
long-suffering  and  mercy  from  the  beginning  (for  God 
is  love),  and  so  let  him  read  Ps.  cxviii.  22,  27,  I  Kings 
viii.  43-53,  with  Isaiah  Ivi.  6,  7,  and  Matt.  xxi.  13.  The 
combined  testimou}^  of  David,  Solomon,  Isaiah,  and 
Christ,  as  to  the  central  covenant  of  God,  with  the 
soul  in  faith  and  prayer. 

Isaiah  lix.  21 — "This  is  my  covenant  with  them, 
saith  the  Lord;  My  Spirit  that  is  upon  thee,  and  jNIy 
woKDs  which  I  have  j)ut  in  thy  mouth  shall  not  de- 
i:)art  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy 
seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed,  miih 
the.  Lord,  from  henceforth  and  forever. 

Haggai  ii.  4,  5 — "Be  strong,  all  ye  people  of  the 
land,  saith  the  Lord;  and  work,  for  I  am  with  you, 
saith  the  Lord  of  hosts.  According  to  the  loord  that 
I  vovenanied  with  you,  when  ye  came  out  of  Egypt, 
so  my  Spirit  remaineth  among  you;  fear  ye  not."  Com- 
pare Ex.  xxix.  45,  4G,  and  Lev.  xxvi.  9,  42,  45,  46, 
and  Deut.  iv.  31. 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  28^ 

Neh.  ix.  13,  14,  20,  30— "Thou  spakest  with  them 
from  heaven;  laws,  slafAifes,  and  commandments; — and 
maclest  known  unto  them  Thrj  holy  Sabbath,  and  gavest 
bread  from  heaven.  Thou  gavest  also  Thy  good  Spirit 
to  indruct  them."  What  conceivable  element  of  a 
life-giving  and  sustaining,  infallible  revelation  can  be 
added  ? 

Inexhaustible  provisions  of  eternal  life;  the  seed 
of  life,  the  bread  of  life,  the  harvest  of  Hf e ;  seed  for 
the  sower  and  bread  for  the  eater;  neither  fear  nor 
possibility  of  famine.  Light  seen  in  God's  light;  life 
lived  in  God's  life;  in  Him  as  the  fountain  of  life, 
and  in  His  presence  as  the  experience  of  the  fulness 
of  joy.  This,  nothing  less,  nothing  earthly,  is  the 
eternal  covenanted  inheritance  of  souls,  taking  God 
at  His  word,  and  believing  in  Christ  accordingly, 
and  thus  securing  the  indwelling  of  Christ,  filling  the 
soul  with  all  the  fulness  of  God. 

No  such  array  of  vouchers  was  ever  known  or 
iniagmed  for  any  transactions  or  writings  on  earth. 
None  were  ever  possible.  The  whole  race  of  man- 
kind, with  all  their  powers  of  intelligence,  design  and 
execution  concentrated  for  a  thousand  years,  could  no 
more  have  produced,  or  caused  to  aj^pear,  such  a  tes- 
timony as  that  contained  in  Neh.  vii.-x.,  combined 
with  Ezra  ix.-x.,  and  the  passages  refeiTcd  to  in 
Isaiah,  Haggai    and  Ezekiel,  than  an  association  of 


2S8         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

scientific  men  could  create  the  universe.*  Even  as 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  are  vouchers  of  God's  cre- 
ative power  and  glory,  and  the  heavens  are  still  tell- 
ing, and  the  days  and  nights  speaking, 

*  See  on  this  argument  the  profoundly  illustrative  and  in- 
structive commentaries  and  introductory  essays  of  Prof.  Tayler 
Lewis  on  Genesis,  Ecclesiastes  and  Job,  with  his  admirable 
Metrical  Translations  of  the  two  latter  books.  No  other  writer 
has  ever  brought  the  riches  of  a  vast  learning  and  the  sagacity 
and  penetration  of  a  searching  and  comprehensive  spiritual  logic, 
taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  bear  with  such  impressive  solem- 
nity upon  the  infinite  eternal  lessons  given  to  mankind  in  these 
portions  of  the  Word  of  God.  "It  is  sometimes  admitted,"  says 
he,  ' '  by  the  most  thoughtful  men  of  science,  that  the  more 
knowledge  we  get  of  nature,  and  of  man  as  a  purely  physical 
being,  the  greater  the  doubt,  perplexity,  and  despair  in  respect 
to  his  destiny,  unless  a  higher  light  than  that  of  the  natural  and 
historical  is  given  for  our  relief.  In  this  respect,  the  modern 
physical  knowledge  has  no  advantage  over  the  ancient,  which  it 
so  much  despises,  but  which,  in  its  day,  and  with  its  small  stock 
of  physical  experience,  was  equally  pretentious.  Our  modern 
science,  with  its  most  sj^lendid  achievements,  which  there  is  no 
dispo.sition  to  underrate,  stands  speechless  and  confounded  in 
the  presence  of  the  real  questions  raised  in  the  book  of  Ecclesi- 
astes !  AVhat  single  ray  of  light  has  that  science  shed  on  any  of 
those  great  problems  of  destiny,  which  are  ever  present  to  the 
anxious  thoughtful  soul!  'Our  science  and  our  litemture  !* 
How  is  their  babble  hushed  in  presence  of  the  grave  !  '  And  how 
gi-eat  is  the  darkness  that  hangs  over  the  problem  of  the  human 
and  the  mundane  destiny,  when  illuminated  by  nothing  higher 
than  science  and  philosophy,  cither  ancient  or  modern  ! '  " 


\ 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2Sg 

"Forever  singing  as  tliey  sliine 
The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine  ; " 

SO  these  events,  and  the  record  of  them,  are  God's 
vouchers,  impossible  to  have  been  constructed  or  pre- 
sented but  by  God.  As  matter  itself  is  but  a  divine 
prism,  constructed  for  created  inteUigences,  and  let- 
ting in  on  man's  mind  through  his  senses  the  inter- 
mediate rays  whereby  the  invisible  Creator  may  be 
known,  so  the  hajDpening  and  the  record  of  events 
from  Adam  to  Christ  constitute  a  divine  prismatic 
revelation  of  God's  redeeming  attributes  and  truths. 
And  when  Christ  Himself  appears,  He  gathers  up  and 
presents  in  His  own  person  all  the  divine  vouchers, 
demonstrating  and  teacliing,  by  His  own  personality, 
as  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  the  word  forever  settled 

IN  HK.\VEX. 

All  these  truths  for  all  mankind,  carry  us,  by  a  di- 
vine necessity,  to  the  great  appointed  Judgment  Day 
for  all,  when  these  books  of  judgment  and  of  destiny, 
shall  be  opened,  and  the  dead  shall  be  judged  out  of 
the  things  written  in  the  books.  And  the  last  cer- 
tamty  of  that  judgment  itself  is  thrown  upon  this  one 
necessity  for  the  government  of  God,  of  having  His 
justice  demonstrated  to  all  beings  through  eternity. 
"  That  Thou  mightst  be  justified  when  Thou  speakest, 
and  be  clear  when  Thou  judgest." — Compare  Ro- 
mans iii.  4-6. 


2go         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Here  then,  we  liare  an  aj)proximating-  balance  be- 
tween the  weight  and  woiih  of  the  truth  as  it  is 
learned  in  Christ,  and  the  denial  of  it,  as  against  Him. 
"He  that  sinneth  against  Me  wi-ongeth  his  own  souL 
All  they  that  hate  Me  love  death."  The  jviroi's  for 
this  crime  ai*e  selected  by  God  Himself,  as  declared  in 
the  great  prophetic  psalm  of  judgment.  "He  shall 
caU  to  the  heavens  fi-om  above,  and  to  the  earth,  that 
He  may  jvidge  His  j)eople.  Gather  My  saints  tog-ether 
unto  Me;— ^/losff  tliai  have  made  a  covenant  ivith  Me  bij 
sacrifice.  And  the  heavens  shall  declai-e  His  right- 
eousness; for  God  is  judge.  Himself." — Ps.  1.  4,  5,  6. 
Comj)are  this  with  Chiist's  own  words,  "  He  that  con- 
fesseth  Me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  confess  before 
M}^  Father  and  the  holy  angels."  The  covenant  of 
God  by  saciifice  is  in  every  confession  of  Chiist  before 
men  (he  covenant  of  ranmm  and  redemption,  as  in  Psalm 
xlix.  7,  8,  and  the  result  of  belief  in  it;  the  sacrifice  of 
a  broken  spirit  presented  by  the  contrite  soul,  \fiih.  the 
assurance  and  joy  of  God's  salvation,  upheld  by  His 
fi-ee  sjnrit,  as  in  Psalm  IL  12,  17.  These  coincidences 
of  the  known  reality  of  God's  covenant  A\ith  mankind 
by  sacrifice,  and  its  eternal  efficacy.'  for  salvation,  sti-ike 
in  by  so  many  and  such  complex  attachments  in  the 
history  of  a  thousand  years  "v\ith  the  witness  of  the 
consciences  of  till  mankind,  and  even  of  theii-  idola- 
trous ceremonies  aud  superstitions  from  Egypt  down 


Faith,  Doubt,  a?id  Evidence.         2gi 

to  Rome,  that  all  i^ossibility  of  forgery  or  misunder- 
standing is  precluded.  The  destiny  and  danger  of  the 
soul  for  eternity  are  as  evident  a  possession  of  human 
thought  and  knowledge,  as  in  the  parables  of  the 
Saviour.  The  Covenant  of  God  in  Christ,  and  the 
consequences  of  rejecting  it,  of  not  taking  refuge  in  it, 
are  equally  indisputable,  and  make  our  mad  delay  and 
doubt  the  greatest  of  our  crimes. 

"The  solar  shadow,  as  it  measures  life, 
Shonltl  not  each  dial  strike  us  as  we  pass  ? 
Should  uot  each  warning  give  a  strong  alarm  ? 
Too  soon  man's  hoiir  is  up,  and  we  are  gone ! 
Gnomons  are  useless,  when  the  sun  is  set; 
And  such  our  gi-avitation  to  the  wrong, 
So  prone  our  hearts  to  whisper  what  we  wish, 
Our  watches  still  go  slower  than  the  sun. 
And  all  mankind  mistake  their  time  of  day." 

Young's  "  Night  Thoughts,"  B.  II. 


2g2         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 


XXXVI. 

A  DIVINE  REVEALER  ADMITTED,  THAT  WHICH  HE 
REVEALS  MUST  BE  INFALLIBLE— THE  REVELATION 
MUST  BE  IN  WORDS  AS  INFALLIBLE— THE  CLAIM  OF 
INFALLIBILITY,  FATAl-  TO  ANY  PRETENDER-GOD 
ALONE  CAN  SAFELY  MAKE  SUCH  CLAIM— ONLY  GOD 
IN  CHRIST  DEMONSTRATES  IT. 

Some  anxious  sceptics  say,  You  must  not  take  too 
high  a  position  as  to  inspiration;  foi'  it  may  yet  be 
found  that  facts  are  against  you,  and  in  that  case,  all 
your  Christianity'  is  gone.  Science  will  yet  bore  and 
analyze  the  globe  to  the  antipodes,  and  some  central 
monkey  may  yet  be  found  in  the  transition  state,  the 
very  missing  work  of  evolution,  pawing  the  ground,  as 
Milton's  imaginary  lion,  half  out,  half  in;  and  that  will 
be  fatal  to  our  Lord's  exposition  of  Genesis.  If  mis- 
take and  eri'or  arc  j^roven  you  will  have  to  relinquish 
the  claim  of  an  infallible  inspiration ;  but  if  not  infalli- 
ble, then  not  inspired;  admit  therefore,  beforehand, 
the  probability,  of  error  in  the  inspiration,  otherwise 
we  may  lose  all. 

But  an  inspired  falsehood  is  impossible.  Of  wliat 
use  or  authority  could  be  such  a  volume  ?  No  man's 
certificates  in  it  could  be  accepted.  Did  I  not  sow 
good  seod  in  mv  ground?  from  whence  then  hath  it 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.  zgj 


tares '?     An  enemy  hatli  done  this  !     God  Himself  has 
never  sown  any  thing-  but  truth. 

The  argument  from  the  divine  attributes,  fi-om  the 
character  of  Christ,  and  the  needs  of  mankind  as  a 
sinful  race,  whom  He  came  to  redeem  by  truth  and 
love,  admits  of  nothing  less  than  infallibility  in  His 
teachings.  Any  thing  opposed  to  this,  or  dependent 
on  men's  opinions,  destroys  all  possibility  of  redemp- 
tion. ''Il>  did  no  sin,  neither  ivas  guile  found  in  His 
mouth:'— Isa..  liii.  9;  and  I  Peter  ii.  22.  Are  these 
witnesses  destitute  of  all  common  sense  as  well  as  sin- 
cerity '?  Have  they  abdicated  reason,  while  appealing 
to  it  *  A  divine  revelation,  and  at  the  same  moment 
a  sjiirit  of  falsehood,  an  inspiration  breathing  guile, 
and  assuming  destructive  error  as  divine  truth,  in  de- 
liberate copartnershii)  with  the  i^assions,  prejudices, 
and  purposes  of  sinful  men,  are  irreconcilable.  Dr. 
Lindsay  Alexander  justly  affirms  that,  "It  is  the  mere 
PHKENZY  OF  INFIDELITY  to  reject  Christ's  instructions  on 
the  plea  that  He  sacrificed  truth  to  gain  the  favor  of 
His  countrymen.  The  same  spirit  that  urged  the 
Jews  to  seek  His  crucifixion  lies  at  the  source  of  this 
audacious  attempt  to  malign  His  character  and  dis- 
credit His  teachings.  It  is  iuipossible  to  adopt  this 
theory  of  accommodation,  and  still  retain  any  confi- 
dence in  Christ  or  His  ambassadors."* 

•  '•  ir  God  sent  His  Son  iuto  the  world,"  says  Herder,  "  could 
Ho  not  send  Him  with  infallible  tokens?    Could  He  not  at  least 


2g4         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

Obviously,  the  claim  of  infallibility  could  bs  safely 
raacle  only  by  tlie  Omniscient,  and  if  made  by  any 
pretender,  the  claim  itself  wovdd  ensure  the  discovery 
of  the  falsehood.  It  would  lead  inevitably  to  the 
sharpest,  most  critical,  most  inimical  scrutiny',  which 
could  never  cease,  but  would  be  renewed  in  every 
generation,  by  those  who  long  to  throw  off  the  yoke 
of  such  a  claim,  and  to  put  the  Christian  Scriptures 
on  a  level  with  the  Zend-Avesta  and  the  Koran.  Such 
is  the  fire  of  inimical  criticism  to  which  the  Word  of 
God  is  subjected  continual!}'.  Every  generation  builds 
a  new  furnace  with  improvements,  kindles  a  new 
flame,  and  smelts  the  "Word  of  God  in  new  crucibles. 
If  there  had  been  any  falsehood  in  it,  or  any  possi- 
bility of  convincing  it  of  error,  any  connivance  with 
selfishness  and  fraud,  sentence  against  it  would  have 
been  confirmetl  long  ago. 

giiard  Him  and  His  wituesses  against  adducing  evidences  which 
were  erroneous  ?  If  we  grant  the  honesty  of  Christ,  and  suppose 
Him  to  have  been  misled,  even  in  so  much  as  the  adduction  of 
a  single  pro^jhecy  which  did  not  properly  relate  to  Him,  but 
which  He  cut  to  suit  His  own  purpose  by  accommodation,  how 
came  God  to  accredit  Him  by  miracles? — by  that  greatest  of 
miracles,  His  resurrection  ?  Would  He  build  us  a  trap  bridge  bo- 
twerm  deceit  in  interpretation  and  honesty  in  conduct  ?  It  would 
be  the  most  perilous  bridge  ever  built,  not  for  the  Jews  only,  but 
for  all  the  jvjople  in  all  times,  into  whose  hands  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  Christianity  should  come." — Alexander's  "Congrega- 
tional Lectures  and  Appendix,"  pps.  201  and  502. 


Faith,  Donbt,  and  Evidence.         2g^ 

Just  so,  if  Jesus  Christ  bad  not  jDossessed  on  earth 
the  infinite  holiness  of  the  Godhead,  if  in  His  haman- 
ily  there  had  not  been  the  absolute  perfection  of  God 
manifest  in  the  jlesh,  His  own  challenge,  Which  of  you 
convinceth  Me  of  sin?  would  have  been  fatal  to  His 
cause,  ensuring  an  inquest  unendurable  by  any  human 
being.  And  so,  when  the  Divine  Word  comes  to  men 
with  the  same  triumphant  challenge,  WJdeh  of  you  con- 
vinceth Me  of  error?  inasmuch  as  it  comes  revealing  the 
wrath  of  God  from  heaven  against  all  unrighteousness 
and  ungodliness  of  men,  it  ensui-es  the  reaction  and 
retaliation  of  justice  against  itself,  if  it  teaches  any 
thing  but  truth  without  error.  Inasmuch  as  it  comes 
revealing  an  eternal  retribution  in  the  wrath  to  come, 
and  commanding  all  men  to  flee  from  it,  and  to  take 
refuge  in  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour,  it  enlists  all  the 
Disposition  of  the  love  of  sin,  unbelief  and  shai-p 
hatred,  by  the  anger  of  thwarted  idolatry,  covetous- 
ness,  ambition,  and  a  sensual  selfish  will.  "We  will 
cast  their  cords  from  us,  b}'  proving  that  what  pre- 
tends to  be  divine  inspiration  is  onl}^  the  bigotry  of 
human  falsehood.  We  will  demonstrate  their  fabrica- 
tions, and  break  their  bands  asunder,  as  Samson  did 
the  green  withes  of  the  Philistines.  And  this  they 
could  easily  do  if  the  Bible  were  in  any  part  woven 
out  of  falsehood.  A  book  denouncing  all  deceit  on  the 
pai't  of  man,  as  a  crime  to  be  visited  with  endless 


2g6         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

penalty,  could  not  escape  the  same  retributive  justice 
due  to  itself,  for  the  crime  of  teaching  deceit  in  the  name 
of  God. 

Now  then  the  case  stands  thus:  "The  wrath  of  God 
is  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God  against  all  ungodli- 
ness and  unrighteousness  of  men,  toho  hold  the  truth  in 
unrighteousness.''  Excej^t  this  be  divine  inspiration,  it 
is  human  falsehood  and  weakness.  There  is  no  wield- 
ing of  this  sword  of  the  Spirit  but  by  absolute  cer- 
tainty. The  truths  are  such  that  they  must  be  pro- 
claimed on  God's  sole  authority,  or  they  have  none 
at  all.  They  can  not  be  revealed  or  enforced  on  man's 
endorsement.  An  endless  penalty  can  be  taught  only 
by  God,  and  taught  infallibly. 

Once  taught,  it  is  the  key  to  all  other  teaching,  the 
reason  for  all  other.  Once  revealed,  there  follows  tJie 
obligation  to  proclaim  it  everywhere,  at  all  hazards,  and  in 
full.  "  That  which  ye  have  heard  in  the  ear,  proclaim 
upon  the  housetops,"  fearing  neither  man  nor  devil. 
"What  had  j)reviously  been  to  j^ou  but  dimly  re- 
vealed, or  in  the  trembling  whispers,  fears  and  doubts, 
half-uttered,  of  what  has  been  called  natural  religion, 
proclaim  as  the  thunder  from  heaven;  Hee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  for  the  wages  of  sin  is  death! 

The  reasonings  of  Christ,  the  parables,  the  illustra- 
tions, hold  by  this  great  truth,  are  grounded  in  it, 
spring   from   it,    as   conclusions    from   the    premises. 


FaitJi,  DoiihL  and  Evidence.         2g'/ 

Take  even  only  the  case  of  the  man  delivered  to  the 
tormentors  till  he  should  have  paid  the  iittermost 
farthing-,  compared  with  the  requisition  in  our  Lord's 
prayer.  "  So  shall  My  Heavenly  Father  do  also  unto 
you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive  not  every  man 
his  brother  their  trespasses."  The  point  is,  that  there 
is  a  continuance  of  retribution,  and  the  soul  that  hath 
committed  the  trespass  hears  the  retribution,  and  is  con- 
sciouJy  bearing  it,  coeternal  with  the  trc^paio^.  The  only 
escape  is  in  the  casting-  of  the  soul  b^^  faith  ujion  the 
Lord  Jesus  for  the  remission  of  all  sin. 


XXXVII. 


WHAT  GOD  HAS  BESTOWED,  WHAT  WE  HAVE 
GAINED,  AND  HOW  TO  USE  \T. 

It  would  require  a  combination  of  the  sagacity  of 
minds  such  as  those  of  Plato,  Aristotle,  Bacon, 
Butler,  Pascal  and  Edwards,  to  set  in  one  volume 
even  an  index  of  the  array  of  irresistible  proofs  from 
human  experience,  from  the  histoiy  of  man  and  of 
the  plan  of  redemption,  and  fi-om  God's  works, 
animate  and  inanimate.  These  proofs,  culminating 
in  Christ,  and  read  by  His  Spirit  (which  is  the  gift 
promised  to  all  through  faith  and  jn-ayer),  are  such 
in  their  vastne oS  and  power,  so  mightily  prepondera- 


2gS         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

ting  over  all  doubt  tliat  can  be  presented  to  shake 
the  convictions  of  an  immortal  being,  and  so  filling 
and  satisfying  the  greatest  minds,  as  to  justify  the 
conclusion  b}"  Dr.  Arnold  of  Rugby  that  "  before  a  con- 
fe.-i!ied  and  unconquerable  difficulty  in  the  Christian  sys- 
tem (for  he  accepted  none  other),  his  mind  reposed 
as  quietly  as  in  the  jiossession  of  a  discovered  truth." 

This  conclusion  is  legitimate,  fi'om  Christ  dwelling 
in  the  heart  by  faith,  but  in  no  other  way  than  in 
Him,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life,  and  in  His  divine, 
infallible,  eternal  love.  Because  God  has  been  thus 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  justified  in  the  Sjiirit,  and 
has  thrown  back  upon  the  j^ast  the  light  of  the  Crea- 
tor's own  testimony,  and  forward  over  the  future  the 
light  of  His  own  government  of  mortal  beings  for  eter- 
nity; has  thrown  it  for  man's  guidance  and  education, 
in  view  of  his  destiny  in  an  eternal  world;  has  thrown 
it  in  such  absolute  certainty  for  a  believing  mind,  that 
all  apparent  contradictions  and  difiiculties  are  lost  in 
the  brightness  of  the  moral  demonstration  of  God's 
goodness,  truth,  and  love:  therefore  we  thus  confi- 
dently and  forever  rest  in  Him. 

There  are  plenty  of  difficulties,  perplexities,  and 
things  requiring  long  and  vast  research,  in  the  do- 
main of  external  learning  and  historical  investigation. 
But  the  A,  B,  C,  tlie  alphabet,  the  key  and  command 
of  eternal  life  are  in  the  meek  and  lowly  heart,  at  the 


Faithy  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         2gg 

use  of  the  liumblest  and  most  illiterate  mind;  without 
opportunity  of  academic  or  college  education,  and, 
without  leisure  for  gymnastic  intellectual  exercises. 
In  the  realm  of  love,  and  of  the  confidence  that  love 
produces,  all  things  are  clear,  and  many  of  infallible 
intuition,  needing  neither  profound  study  nor  a  pierc- 
ing genius,  nor  a  great  library  of  many  tongues,  but 
only  an  ordinary  reason,  and  a  loving  and  believing 
heart. 

"The  cottage  dame  that  sits  at  her  own  door, 
Pillow  aud  bobbins  all  her  little  store," 

and  the  Bible  all  her  learning,  conquers  the  brilliant 
Frenchman,  be  he  Rcnan,  or  Voltaii-e,  or  Bajde,  with 
their  encyclopedias  of  knowledge  aud  logic,  wit,  sar- 
casm and  facts. 

The  logic  of  the  great  Russian  Poet,  Derzhavin,  in 
his  sublime  ode  to  the  Deity,  deflagrates,  even  in  one 
line,  the  manufactured  diamonds  of  learned  material- 
ism and  doubt — 

"I  AM,  0  God;  and  surely  Thou  must  be!" 

And  yet,  this  logic,  this  unanswerable,  ii-resistible 
axiom,  is  just  simjily  the  reason  aud  lisping  intuition 
of  the  little  child,  even  the  babe  and  suckling,  out  of 
whose  mouth  God  perfects  praise,  and  the  Author 
of  Faith  completes  His  own  demonstration  of  Himself. 


joo         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

It  is  the  child's  soul  in  God's  Temple,  and  Christ  Him- 
self His  own  Temple  in  the  soul. 

"I  am,  O  God;  and  surely  Thou  must  be  ! 
Even  from  the  throne  of  Thy  Divinity, 
The  chain  of  being  is  complete  in  me. 
In  me  is  matter's  last  gradation  lost, 
And  the  next  step  is  spirit, — Deity  ! 
Thy  light,  Thy  love,  in  their  bright  plenitude, 
ThoiT  Spirit  of  my  spirit,  and  my  Lord  ! " 

Because  God  will  have  men  to  trust  in  Himself  as 
their  Saviour,  and  rest  on  His  word  of  promise,  and  not 
on  any  chain  of  scientific  reasoning,  as  of  facts  ascer- 
tained by  the  senses,  but  on  His  "Word  in  simj)le  faith; 
therefore  is  the  moral  and  spiritual  demonstration  so 
overwhelming,  the  historical  and  scientific  so  open  to 
disjoute.  But  the  moment  we  have  received  into  the 
depths  of  our  souls  the  shadows  of  the  great  moun- 
tains of  God's  truth,  the  reflection  of  their  dazzling 
summits,  as  in  a  calm  lake  the  snow-crowned  Alps 
are  reverberated,  then  all  the  ai'guments  of  infidels, 
all  the  questionings  of  doubtful  minds,  are  only  as 
light  fleeces  of  cloud  would  be  in  a  clear  day,  between 
our  vision  and  Mont  Blanc  in  Switzerland. 

The  argument  from  Christ  in  the  gospels  is  more 
convincing,  more  overwhelming,  more  expulsive  of 
the  possibility  of  delusion  or  mistake,  than  a  range 


FaitJi,  Doiibf,  and  Evidence.         joi 

of  alabaster  mountains  would  be  to  the  sight,  reach- 
ing from  earth  to  heaven.  All  the  objections  that 
have  ever  been  evoked  out  of  the  brains  or  work- 
shops of  scientific  philosoi)hcrs,  or  the  encounter  of 
stumbling  blocks  fit  to  grind  men  to  powder,  go  for 
nothing.  Take  the  Scriptures  at  every  disadvantage, 
and  they  can  bear  any  amount  of  blundering,  misin- 
terpretation, assumption  of  false  i:»remises,  obstinate 
holdings  of  prejudice,  distoiiions,  rackings  on  the 
wheel; — and  yet,  the  demonstration  of  Christ  in  these 
gospels,  as  the  power  of  God  and  the  '\\-isdom  of  God 
unto  salvation,  shall  no  more  be  obscured  or  weak- 
ened, than  the  sun  could  be  darkened  by  scattering 
a  vial  of  pagan  incense  into  the  air. 

If  we  were  shut  up  to  the  very  letter  of  Genesis, 
and  had  no  margin  of  time  for  our  interi)retation,  no 
allowance  but  just  one  week  of  days  of  twenty-four 
hours  each,  it  would  still  be  more  likely  that  all  the 
demonstrations  of  geology  were  mistaken,  than  the 
Bible  false;  more  hkely  that  all  the  fossils  of  the  rocks, 
all  the  microscopic  infusoria,  shells,  chalk,  and  coral 
reefs  and  mountains,  were  created  just  as  they  are, 
and  in  one  day,  than  that  Christ  was  an  impostor. 

The  argument  of  religious  truth,  completed  in 
Christ,  is  a  more  conclusive,  ii'resistible  demonstra- 
tion, than  any  argument  from  science  ever  possibly 
can  be.     It  involves  no  impossibility  to  suj^pose  the 


^02         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

world  created  in  one  daj^,  or  fossils  created  as  fossils, 
or  coal  beds  as  coal  beds.  But  it  does  involve  an  im- 
possibility to  suppose  that  Christ  was  an  impostor, 
because  that  supposes  God  Himself  a  har,  and  that 
supposes  no  G-od. 

There  is  no  God,  unless  He  be  a  God  revealing 
Himself;  no  Creator,  unless  He  be  a  God  caring  for 
the  good  of  His  creatures;  a  God  protecting  and 
blessing  those  whom  His  power  and  wisdom  brought 
into  being. 

If  there  be  God  a  Creator,  there  must  be  God  a 
Revealer,  and  a  revelation  from  Him;  and  man  must 
know  it.  But  there  is  no  such  revelation,  save  only 
in  the  Word  of  God.  If  that  be  not  a  revelation  from 
God,  men  have  none,  and  never  had,  and  never  can 
have.  It  is  attested  by  aU  conceivable  seals  of  ajopeal 
and  proof  to  human  reason.  A  revelation  can  not  be 
made  to  a  reasonable  creature  unless  that  which  is 
given  in  the  Word  of  God  be  it. 


Faith,  Do2ibi,  and  Evidence.         joj 


XXXYIII. 

PAUL'S  INSTRUCTIONS  AND  TIMOTHY'S  EXPERIENCE— 
THE  WORD  A  SPIRITUAL  TELEGRAPH— THE  EDU- 
CATION AND  TRAINING  REQUISITE  FOR  THE  EF- 
FECTUAL MINISTRATION  OF  TRUTH  —  ORIGINAL 
CHRISTIAN  KNOWLEDGE,  BY  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT,  IN 
FAITH  AND  LOVE,  BY  THE  INDWELLING  OF  CHRIST 
IN  THE  HEART— SCOTT'S  "FORCE  OF  TRUTH"— 
CONFESSION  OF  CHRIST  BY  THE  DYING  THIEF. 

It  is  recorded  of  Timothy's  education  for  the  min- 
istry that  from  a  child  he  had  known  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, which  were  able  to  make  him  wise  unto  salva- 
tion through  faith  in  Chrid.  That  unfeigned  faith  dwelt 
in  him,  by  the  Holy  Sjiirit,  through  the  Word  of  God, 
and  in  accordance  with  it.  This  is  so  universally  tnae, 
that  the  touchstone  of  a  Christian  experience  always 
is  its  dependence  upon  and  accordance  loUh  the  Word  of 
God.  The  Spirit  of  God  does  not  come  down  from 
God  with  a  new  revelation  from  eternity,  nor  bring 
to  the  soul  things  from  the  eternal  world  not  revealed 
ah-eady  in  the  Scriptures,  but  shids  us  up  to  God's  own 
Word.  There  is  such  a  reality  as  Christian  experi- 
ence; we  know  that;  and  it  comes  fi'om  the  Divine 
Spu-it,  from  the  power  of  God,  but  nei^er  apart  from 
the  Word  of  God.     This  is  a  testimony  of  wondrous 


jo^         FaitJi,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

power  from  God  Himself  as  to  the  divinity  of  His  own 
Word.  It  is  the  enshrinement  of  the  whole  revelation 
that  God  has  been  pleased  to  make,  and  to  that  en- 
shrinement He  not  only  refera  the  soul,  but  Himself 
goes  to  it  as  the  medium  stUl  of  all  His  intercourse 
with  the  souL  Whatever  windows  are  opened  in  heaven, 
He  opens  through  His  Word;  whatever  communica- 
tions are  made  by  the  Divine  Spirit  are  made  through 
the  Word;  and  in  the  work  of  convincing,  disciplin- 
ing, changing  and  sanctifying  the  soul,  the  sword  of 
the  Spirit  is  the  Word  of  God — See  Isaiah  Hs.  21, 
and  I  Peter  i.  23. 

So  God  always  doth  and  always  will  discipline  us, 
teaching  us  our  dependence  equally  upon  the  Word 
and  the  Spirit,  and  the  imj^ossibility  of  knowing  the 
one  without  the  other,  of  experiencing  the  life  of 
the  one  without  the  life  of  the  other.  The  Word  of 
God  understood  and  kept  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the 
heart,  is  the  hfe  and  power  of  the  Christian  and  the 
Chuirch.  It  is  the  source  of  individual  knowledge  and 
experience  in  the  things  of  God.  It  is  the  fuel  and 
the  flame  of  divine  life  and  love  in  the  soul;  and  the 
truth  by  the  Spirit  of  Love  is  the  only  element  of 
j)Ower  with  which  the  Church  can  act  ujiou  the  world; 
not  the  truth  merely,  but  the  truth  by  the  Spirit. 
Hence  the  vast  and  solemn  resiionsibility  of  the 
Church  to  gain  and  to  keep  the  Spirit  of  God,  that 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         joj 

the  truth  of  God  in  His  love  may  be  kept  and  appHed 
by  the  Spirit.  "  It  is  the  gift  of  the  grace  of  God  ac- 
cording to  the  cffrctaal  working  of  His  power."  And 
this  is  the  appHcation  of  the  prayer  that  God  would 
grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  His  glory  to 
be  strengthened  with  might  by  His  Spirit,  etc. — Eph. 
iii.  lG-19.  This  baptism  with  the  fire  of  divine  truth 
by  the  Spirit  is  the  perpetually  renewed  pentccostal 
baptism.  It  fills  the  Chm-ch  with  the  divine  presence, 
and  raises  up  a  ministry  of  divine  efficacy.  It  carries 
forward  the  individual  to  his  work  for  Christ  in  great 
power  and  glory. 

It  guides  and  governs  the  man,  not  the  man  it.  It 
may  lead  him  into  ti-ial,  may  throw  him  into  conflict 
with  angry  enemies,  but  he  shall  ride  prosperously 
because  of  truth,  and  meekness,  and  righteousness, 
and  God's  right  hand  shall  teach  him  terrible  things, 
and  his  arrows  shall  be  shai-j)  in  the  heart  of  the 
king's  enemies.  There  may  be  conflicts  which  will 
be  very  painful;  nevertheless,  God's  living  "Word 
sweeps  him  on,  and  he  must  proclaim  it,  he  can 
not  cease.  "I  am  in  derision  daily,"  says  Jeremiah, 
that  faithful,  perpetual  martyr  to  divine  truth ;  "  every 
one  mocketh  me.  For  since  I  spake,  I  cried  out.  I 
cried  violence  and  spoil,  because  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  was  made  a  rei^roach  unto  me,  and  a  derision 
daily.     Then  I  said,  I  wiU  not  make  mention  of  Him, 


jo6         Faith,  Doiibt,  a?id  Evidence. 

nor  speak  any  more  in  His  name.  But  His  Word 
was  in  my  heart  as  a  burning  fire  shut  uj)  in  my 
bones,  and  I  was  weary  with  forbearing,  and  I  could 
not  stay."  When  the  Word  of  God  thus  takes  pos- 
session of  a  man,  thus  burns  in  him,  it  conquers  and 
impels  not  only  him,  but  others. 

But  there  is  a  great  individual  labor  behind  this 
fire,  and  requisite  for  it;  it  comes  never  by  chance, 
nor  by  human  learning,  nor  by  the  letter  merely, 
but  by  the  Spmt.  A  man  may  have  the  fuel,  the 
letter,  before  him  and  all  around  him,  in  plainness 
and  abundance,  and  yet  know  nothing  of  the  fire, 
the  power.  And  hence  David  says,  "Mine  eyes  fad 
for  Thy  Word,  saying,  When  wUt  Thou  comfort  me  ?  " 
And  again,  "Take  not  the  word  of  truth  utterlj^  out 
of  my  mouth ;  hide  not  Thy  commandments  from 
me."  Hide  them  not  ?  Fail  for  Thy  Word  ?  Why, 
the  Word  was  plain  before  him,  very  nigh  him,  in 
his  hand  at  that  verj'  moment,  and  he  turned  it  over 
as  we  do  now;  meditating  on  it  even  through  the 
night  watches;  and  yet  he  exclaims,  "  Mine  eyes  fail 
for  thy  Word;  I  see  it  not,  it  is  gone  from  me."  He 
means  that  he  can  do  nothing  with  it,  it  is  worth 
nothing  to  him,  except  his  soul  is  quickened  by  it, 
except  he  knows  it  by  the  Spirit,  feeds  upon  it  in 
its  spiritual  and  eternal  meaning,  has  it  hidden  and 
burning  in  his  heart.     Then  and  so,  it  is  God's  Word, 


Faith,  Doitbt,  and  Evidence.         jo/ 

and  lie  can  speak  it;  but  if  he  loses  the  Spirit,  he 
loses  the  Word.  He  has  to  pray,  "  Open  Thou  my 
lij^s,  and  my  mouth  shall  show  forth  Th}-  praise.  Up- 
hold me  by  Thy  free  Spirit,  tlien  will  I  teach  transgres- 
sors Thy  ways,  and  sinners  shall  be  converted  unto 
Thee.  Make  me  to  understand  the  waj'  of  Thy  pi'e- 
cepts;  .so  aliall  I  talk  of  Thy  won(b-ous  works."  That 
is  the  first  and  grand  element  of  power,  eloquence, 
and  success  in  the  preacher,  whether  his  sjihere  be 
l^ublic  or  private  in  that  Royal  Priesthood,  which 
Peter  describes  as  constituted  by  the  Church.  This 
is  the  primal,  grand,  essential  requisite,  that  the 
Christian  disciple  ever^n^rhere  be  able  to  speak  of 
God  and  of  Christ,  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  of 
heaven  and  of  hell,  from  the  "Word  of  God,  by  his 
OAvn  original,  deep,  powerful  exj^erience.  Brought 
down  to  the  Gospel,  this  is  "Ike  Spirit  of  ivisdom  and 
revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  O/jr/.s/."  If  the  man 
would  be  a  living  preacher,  nothing  will  answer  at 
second  hand.  Where  the  Spirit  stops,  his  knowl- 
edge stops,  his  power  ceases. 

The  business  of  the  Christian  teacher,  therefore, 
under  such  resj)onsibility,  is  to  be  strong  in  these  two 
things, — the  Wokd  of  God,  and  Prayek.  A  man  can 
receive  nothing,  except  it  be  given  him  from  heaven; 
uotliing  is  an  element  of  life  and  power,  excej)t  it  bo 
so  received,  except  he  get  it  fi'om  God.     It  should  be 


jo8         Faith,  Do7cbt,  and  Evidence. 

our  constant  daily  effort,  our  great  desire  and  prayer, 
we  will  not  say,  to  go  no  farther  in  knowledge  than  we 
can  go  in  exj)erience,  but  to  have  every  thing,  even  the 
least  things  in  God's  "Word,  ministered  to  us  by  the 
Spirit.  Oh,  the  greatness  and  glory  of  that  j^ower! 
That  ministration  is  glorious;  "not  with  ink  merely, 
but  with  the  Spiiit  of  the  Hving  God;  not  in  tables 
of  stone,  but  in  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart."  "We  Avant 
it  every  step  of.  the  way,  that  nothing  may  be  of  the 
letter  merely,  which  killeth,  but  of  the  spirit  that  giv- 
eth  life.  This  is  the  ministration  which  the  child  of 
God  is  bound  to  keej)  up,  this  habitual  receiving  of  the 
Divine  Word  from  heaven,  from  the  Spirit  of  God,  the 
Kevealer,  the  Comforter,  the  Sanctifiei*. 

The  Word  of  God  might  not  improperly  be  described 
as  a  spiritual  telegrai^h,  but  in  every  case  the  message 
must  come  direct  to  the  soul,  and  can  not  be  reported 
at  second  hand.  The  behever,  the  Christian,  in  the 
exercise  of  faith,  looking  to  God  and  waiting,  must 
stand  himself,  watching  for  the  sacred  intelligence. 
Sometimes  he  stands,  or  seems  to  stand,  sorrowfully 
waiting  for  a  message  that  does  not  come.  Has  he 
given  notice  to  the  operator  at  the  other  side  ?  If  he 
has  not,  then  how  can  he  expect  an  answer  ?  He  must 
send  his  message:  if  he  does  not,  he  might  stand  and 
watch  the  telegraph  wires  or  machinery  aU  day,  and  it 
would  not  move  for  him,  or  with  an}^  intelligence  to 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         jog 

him.  Aud  just  so,  the  soul,  inquiring  at  God's  Word, 
must  breathe  forth  its  prayer  after  God,  must  adver- 
tise God,  as  it  were,  that  the  sinner  is  there,  .waiting 
for  a  message,  waiting  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  flash  a 
life  and  meaning  along  the  wires,  to  convey  the  sjoirit- 
ual  intelligence  through  the  letter  of  the  Word. 

Here  is  a  man  crjing.  Mine  eyes  fail  for  Thy  Word, 
sajing,  When  wilt  thou  comfort  me?  Well,  if  you 
could  stand  by  him  and  observe,  waiting  a  little  longer, 
by  and  by,  if  you  covild  hear  as  he  hears,  there  would 
be  a  click,  chck,  chck,  in  the  machinery,  and  the  pen 
would  be  seen  dotting  and  notching  its  signals,  in  a 
language  for  the  soul,  which  the  soul  rejoices  to  find 
uttered ;  the  utterance  of  the  Spirit,  without  which  the 
word,  the  letter  of  the  word,  was  as  destitute  of  celes- 
tial intelligence  and  comfort,  as  are  the  wires  of  an 
electric  telegraph. 

There  is  all  this  difference  between  knowing  by  the 
Spirit  and  by  the  letter  merel}-,  or  the  natiu-al  heart, 
like  that  between  the  telegi-aph  and  the  post.  If  you 
live  on  the  line  of  the  telegraph,  where  there  is  an  of- 
fice of  communication  and  a  knowledge  of  the  signs, 
you  may  be  in  correspondence  in  a  moment,  at  ever  so 
great  a  distance;  but  if  you  are  only  on  a  postroad, 
then  the  most  important  intelligence  may  be  carried 
to  a  city  a  thousand  miles  further  off  in  sjjace  than 
you  are,  before  it  can  reach  you,  and  it  will  have  to  be 


J 10         Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence. 

interpreted  for  you  by  letter,  and  brought  to  you  by 
mail.  Just  so,  the  heart  in  communion  with  God  by 
the  Spirit  is  an  office  of  heaven's  telegraph;  the  wires 
ai'e  the  Word,  instinct  with  the  flame  of  the  Spirit  that 
pours  divine  intelligence  into  the  soul.  But  to  others 
the  same  things  have  to  be  conveyed  by  letter  from 
those  to  whom  they  have  been  telegraphed. 

If  your  favorite  commentator  has  received  his  un- 
derstanding of  the  Scriptures  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  heart,  attending  and  interpreting  the  letter,  he  is 
so  far  to  be  relied  uijon,  but  no  farther.  "  Stand 
therefore,  having  your  loins  girt  about  with  truth, 
praying  always  with  all  prayer  and  sui^plication  in 
the  Spirit." 

Scott's  "  Force  of  Truth "  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
structive books  on  this  subject  ever  written.  He  was 
himself  one  of  the  safest,  most  practical,  useful,  and 
instructive  commentators  of  his  day.  He  says,  in  one 
of  his  letters  to  Dr.  Ryland,  "  The  Lord  j^reserve  us 
from  ihe  pride  of  learning  and  ainlities!  If  we  once 
think  ourselves  competent  to  understand  the  Bible  by 
dint  of  our  own  sagacity,  and  skill  in  languages  and 
ci'iticism,  -Avithout  an  immediate  and  continual  de- 
pendence upon  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Si^ii'it,  we 
are  within  a  few  j^aces  of  some  dreadful  downfall." 

"When  Abraham  was  on  the  Mount  of  Temptation 
in  the  trial  of  his  faith,  he  said,  "  My  son,  God  Him- 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         jii 

self  will  provide  a  Lamb  for  a  burnt-ofifering."  Won- 
derful iDroi^liecy  of  Christ's  coming  and  death  for  the 
sins  of  all  mankind!  The  whole  Gospel  was  there, 
and  in  it  Abraham  saw  Christ's  day,  and  was.  glad. 
Then  came  Job,  with  his  supernatural  faith,  "  I  know 
that  my  Kedeemor  liveth."  Then  Moses  with  the 
Passover,  and  the  types,  predictions,  confessions,  and 
instructions  of  the  Ceremonial  Law,  "Our  school- 
master unto  Ch]-ist."  Then  David  and  the  Messianic, 
l^enitential  and  believing  Psalms.  Then  the  fifty- 
third  cliapter  of  Isaiah;  "All  we  like  sheep  have  gone 
astray:  but  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity 
of  us  all."  Then  John  the  Baptist,  greatest  of  the 
j)rophets,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh 
away  the  sin  of  the  world ! " 

Thus  for  ages  Jesus  was  a  reahty  only  to  failh,  ex- 
ercised by  chastened  and  childhke  men,  "  taking  the 
cup  of  salvation,  and  calling  on  the  name  of  the 
Lord," — faith  only  in  God's  promises  to  guilty  lost 
sinners,  and  in  the  symbolic  utterances  of  priestly 
sacrifices,  and  the  ceremonial  theology  of  the  Divine 
Law,  with  its  accompanying  mmicles,  the  Rock,  the 
Cloud,  the  Fire,  the  IManna,  and  the  Word  fi'om 
heaven.  So,  the  just  shall  live  by  his  faitk  And 
that  faith  in  a  Saviour  to  come,  illustrated  and  dem- 
onstrated by  the  confidence  of  the  dying  thief  in  a 
dying,  }'et  ever-living  Saviour,  on  the  cross,  the  most 


J 12         Faiih,  Doubt,  and  Evidence, 

triumi:)liaTit,  consoling,  supernatural  instance,  to  the 
praise  of  the  crucified  Son  of  God,  since  the  world 
began,  was  as  good  for  every  ancient  soul,  humbly 
and  obediently  trusting  God,  as  Paul's,  Peter's,  Joh»'s, 
Luther's,  Bunyan's,  ours.  "Hath  done  nothing  amiss" ; 
that  was  the  whole  triumphant  creed,  against  Satan, 
sin,  temptation  and  despau-  (which  is  the  last  i^ossible 
crime  of  the  guilty  soul),  in  the  dying  thief's  confes- 
sion concerning  Christ. 

But  the  reasoning  of  this  creed  was  not,  Let  us 
therefore  imitate  His  moral  perfections,  and  so  be 
saved  by  His  moral  virtues,  but,  Let  us  therefore 
trust  in  Him  alone,  to  save  us  just  as  toe  are,  Avithout 
any  plea  but  His  merits  and  His  death.  There  was  no 
time  for  habits  of  obedience  by  imitation  of  Christ; 
but  there  was  time  for  faith  in  His  merey  to  the  ehief 
of  sinners,  time  to  confess  Christ,  and  trust  in  Him 
before  the  sons  of  men,  under  the  most  awful  and  con- 
tradictory testimony  of  guilt  and  conscience,  sense 
and  science,  compulsory  of  despair,  that  ever  shut 
down  ujjon  and  darkened  the  death-scene  of  a  soul. 
Yet  against  all  this,  taught  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he 
threw  himself  upon  Christ's  mercy,  praying  that  great 
prayer,  while  his  failing  vision  could  still  behold  the 
Holy  Lamb  of  God,  his  dying  Saviour,  "Lord,  re- 
member me  when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  kingdom  !  " 
Most  wonderful  revelation  of  the  whole  comfort  and 


Faith,  Doubt,  and  Evidence.         jij 

power  of  the  Gosj^el !  And  so,  confessing  Christ  be- 
fore men,  this  dying  sinner  fulfilled  the  conditions 
of  justification  unto  life,  and  ascended  with  his  Ee- 
deemer  into  Paradise.  And  this  man's  prayer,  and 
the  martyr  Stephen's  crjdng,  "Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit,"  are  the  only  death-scenes  of  believers 
presented  for  our  instruction  in  the  New  Testament. 


END    OF   VOL.    I. 


i-e^ 


^sf-d 


